The Renegade
by Greed720
Summary: His preparations had taken him years, but in the end it would be worth it. He had lost everything, but now he would get it all back, and more. For him though, vengeance was not the primary goal, but if he did happen to bring it down on his enemies. Then that was good too.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

**AN: Hello everyone, so first things first this is another story yes. This one however is my own version of the author 'Zaterra02's' story, 'Paid in Blood'. Which was a story I've only recently read, but found that I really enjoyed, it quickly becoming one of my favourites, so much so that I asked for PERMISSION to do my own version.**

 **Now this version of the story will have some similarities with the first in the beginnings, but will depart from the original as it continues on and I add in my new ideas. Until I veer off in a completely different direction.**

 **Also before we start the story I would like to just say that this story will have influences from the 'Underworld' film series, and will involve an expanded Potterverse taking into account magical beings and creatures who were referenced in the books but never really explored.**

 **With that said let's crack on, I hope you all enjoy my adaptation of the story, and leave a comment or a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, the story this fic is based on was written by Zaterra02.**

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 1**

 ****( - )****

 **Prologue**

Closing his eyes, Harry took a deep breath. It was done, after days of carving and years of research and preparation he had finally finished it. Opening his eyes and letting out a slight sigh of satisfaction, the smallest of smiles began to spread across his face as he looked over his work.

It was a runic circle, etched into the stone floor of a vast chamber. One which seemed to have a slight greenish tinge to it, and rows of carved, stone snakes running along the walls, with a huge statue of an austere looking robed man at the very end of the chamber.

Who's carved stone face appeared to be looking down on Harry and his desecration of the chamber in constant disapproval. Not that Harry cared, he had been using this chamber, the Chamber of Secrets, for so long he had gotten used to the brooding statue and the less that aesthetic appearance of his surroundings.

No, what Harry was more concerned about was the vast runic circle that he had just finished carving into the chamber floor. One which had taken him many days of hard work to do, using his wand and magic to gouge it into the dark marble floor of the chamber. Not because carving it was difficult, but more because it was so complicated that he wanted to be sure it was perfect, and it was.

Smiling in satisfaction as his sharp eyes moved over his work, Harry nodded his head, happy that it was finally done. He had been planning for this moment for years, using every resource he could to create and then prepare for the ritual the runic circle was for.

"Dobby." Harry called out, the smile on his face not fading as his faithful servant appeared with a crack.

"Master?" Dobby asked, a curious look on his face as he looked over to Harry. Before his eyes widened as he looked down and saw that his Master had finished his work. "You've finished it."

"Yes," Harry replied simply, before he turned to look at Dobby. "Which means that all the preparations are complete."

Dobby paused as he heard that, before giving Harry a nod of acknowledgement. "So you still want to go through with your plan Master?"

"Of course, otherwise I've just wasted the last twenty years." Harry said abruptly, his expression tightening somewhat at that. "Or do you have a problem with the plan?"

"Not at all, my duty is and always will be to serve you and your family, Master." Dobby responded, not a hint of doubt in his voice. "I just question your reasoning, and what the repercussions might be."

"If this runic circle works there will be no repercussions, no paradoxes. Instead it will be a perfect transition." Harry replied confidently, as he looked away from Dobby and instead started to walk to where his cluttered work bench was set up at the side of the chamber. "As for my reasoning, you should know well enough that that is beyond doubt."

"Of course Master, I miss them to. I just question whether things will work out as you intend." Dobby replied, his tone still placid as he spoke with his Master. Not questioning his work on the runic circle, because if Master Harry said it would work, then it would work.

Harry paused as he heard that. After all he himself had pondered the same thing. His whole reason for this venture was to create a second chance, a second chance for him and his wives. The only problem was that he had fallen in love and married the two of them at different times in his life. One of them he had married not long out of school, and he had remained with her for nearly eight years before she had been taken from him. The other he had married nearly a decade later, and had remained married to for another twenty years, before, like his first wife she had been taken from him.

His love for them was not in question, as even now he loved them both. What was in question was whether they would be able to love the man he had become, and whether he would be able to swing it so he was able to be with both of them. After all he didn't want to give up either one of them, he just wasn't sure whether they would approve. Still in his mind you wouldn't get anywhere if you didn't try.

"I believe it will. My first wife, my sun, was always more open to such things. As for my second wife, my moon, well she had quite a few kinks. I'd like to think that I can make it work." Harry replied, a faint smile on his face as he slowly got caught up in the nostalgia of his memories. Thinking of better times.

"Both of the Mistresses also had quite the temper and were formidable with a wand." Dobby added in dryly, an amused expression now on his face.

"I remember." Harry replied just as dryly, before he grinned, the excitement of soon being able to see them again in the flesh getting the better of him.

Dobby's lips twitched slightly as he saw that, happy that he saw his Master looking so cheerful. It had been many years since the last time Dobby had seen him smiling like he was now.

"Now let's finish the preparations." Harry continued as he stopped in front of his work bench.

"Of course Master." Dobby replied before he followed Harry, climbing up onto the top of the work bench as he did so. "I will see to the packing."

"I appreciate it." Harry said with a nod as he picked his wand up from the table.

Seeing this Dobby began to gather up their luggage. Grabbing his Master's enchanted, red, dragon hide cuirass from where it was lying on the worktable. Along with his Master's pensieve and a small trunk full of magical tomes and grimoires. Gathering these items, Dobby then proceeded to pack them in an expandable trunk, ensuring he was very careful as he packed his Master's meagre, but very valuable possessions away.

Whilst Dobby was doing this, Harry had been finishing off the ritual. Using a jug full of silver liquid to fill the engraved runic circle with mercury. After which he had picked up a large glass bottle filled with golden sand from the table. Which he had then very carefully poured out into a basin, which had been place in the very centre of the runic circle.

"Master Harry, the rest." Dobby said, an expectant look on his face.

"Of course, of course." Harry replied with a nod, before he pulled two rings off of his fingers. One, of which was a simple sliver band which had the emblem of a golden sun on it. Whilst the other ring was a gold band, which had unique symbol scratched onto a cracked, black stone set into it. The symbol being that of a triangle, with a single vertical line running through the middle and with a circle surrounding the line while keeping within the triangle.

Taking the rings, Dobby very carefully put them both in a moleskin pouch. Knowing as he did that both of these rings were priceless artifacts. Ones which could not be easily replicated if they were lost, due to the nature of the enchantment they had laid upon them. Enchantments that had long since been lost to time, and could be replaced by no wizard/ magical being alive today.

Pausing as he put the pouch into the trunk. Dobby then turned to Harry, his mind on the silver ring with the golden sun on it. "Master have you thought of the reaction the Coven might have to your decision?"

Harry smiled at that. "Well if the ritual works, there won't be anything for them to react to. And if it fails, and I survive, well they still won't have anything to complain about, I'm still loyal to the cause after all."

Dobby nodded at that.

"Ok then, it looks like we're about ready to go." Harry said as he looked over his work and smiled. "I just need to do one more thing."

As if reading his mind Dobby walked to the table before he grabbed a rune engraved bottle, after which he returned to Harry, gingerly holding the glass bottle in front of him.

Seeing this Harry smiled, before he looked to his wand, a fifteen inch length of elder, with a Thestral tail hair for a core. Tracing his eyes along its length, Harry then brought it to his bare forearm, after which he used a silent cutting curse to open the veins of his forearm. Spilling dark crimson blood from it, which he then used his wand to control and guide into the bottle Dobby was holding. Quickly filling the bottle up with his precious blood.

A few seconds later, Dobby stoppered the bottle. After which Harry used his wand to activate the stasis runes on it. The small cut on his forearm, automatically healing up a moment later. A sight crackle of red energy running through the wound as it did so.

With that done Harry then passed his wand over to Dobby too, after all he didn't need it to activate the magic circle. Nor did he know whether it would survive the ritual if he was carrying it. It was one of the variables that were still unknown, which is why precautions were being made.

Putting both the wand and the vial in the trunk, Dobby then sealed it before shrinking it down till it was the size of a matchbox. After which he swallowed it, trusting in the nature of his highly magical body and the vast array of protections on the trunk to protect the Master's belongings during the trip. House Elves after all had a distinctly different magic and nature to other magical creatures.

"We're are ready then." Dobby spoke, before he looked over to his Master an expectant expression on his face.

"Yes we are," Harry replied, after which he stepped onto the runic circle, making sure to avoid standing on any of the engraved lines as he moved towards the centre. Where there were two empty spaces on either side of the basin, one for him and the other for Dobby.

Appearing on his spot just as Harry stepped onto his. Harry gave his diminutive servant one more look. "Are you ready Dobby?"

"Of course Master." Dobby replied with a nod.

"And you remember what you'll have to do when we arrive?" Harry pressed on, wanting to ensure Dobby knew what he had to do. Not that he didn't trust him, but more because it was crucial that he follow through with his instructions, even if they were unpleasant.

"Yes Master," Dobby replied abruptly.

"Good." Harry said, before he placed his hand on the basin, pushing his magic into it as he did so and activating the ritual. The runes inscribed on the basin taking on a red glow, even as the mercury filled engravings on the floor did the same.

Grunting as he felt the ritual begin to draw on the ley lines which ran beneath Hogwarts. Harry closed his eyes, gritting his teeth as he felt his body begin to twist and warp. The magical energy running through him threatening to tear him apart as he directed it into powering the ritual.

( - )

(The Chamber of Secrets, 1994)

With a gasp of pain Harry landed on the dark marble floor of the chamber, his knees giving out on him as he collapsed to the floor.

"Gah!" Harry exclaimed loudly, as he slammed his hand on the ground, ignoring the flare of pain he felt from the action. Instead he opening his eyes, immediately noting as he did so, that his runic circle had been scorched into the floor of the Chamber.

Twisting his head and ignoring the leaden feeling of his body, Harry looked to the side, only to smile as he saw the half decomposed body of a massive, fifty foot long Basilisk lying a dozen or so feet away.

They had made it, the remains of Slytherins monster was still here, and still rotting. Which meant it couldn't have been more than a couple of years since he had killed it. The magic of the serpent preserving it longer than natural, but not indefinitely.

"Dobby!" Harry gasped out.

"I'm here Master." Dobby replied, grabbing Harry's attention as he looked up.

Looking up Harry noted that Dobby looked the same as ever. Small, with large, green eyes and big flappy ears. He was even wearing the same clothing as before, a small black butler's suit, scaled down to his size. A small knife visibly sheathed at his waist.

"You know what to do." Harry grunted, as he felt pain wracking his body again. His brow furrowing as he looked down at his hand only to see that his skin had taken on a greyish pallor. He had begun to desiccate, as he had suspected would happen. After all the amount of power he had needed to work the ritual had been huge, more than a human body was supposed to be able to handle.

Channeling the ley lines of the school had been too much for him, just as he had suspected it would be. Which meant his body was beginning to give way on him, as not even his regenerative abilities could save him.

Of course he had factored all of this in his plans, and had experimented with different ways of powering his ritual. Including the Veil of Death in the Ministry, sacrificial magic using a small town or setting off a small atomic explosion and harnessing the power from that. In the end though he decided none of them would be suitable.

Which is why he had used the ley lines beneath Hogwarts. Knowing that he had a way to counter the consequences of using it.

"Indeed." Dobby replied softly, before he approached Harry and drew his knife. Knowing what he had to do, even if it was unpleasant. "Dobby will see to it."

 **( - )**

 **AN: So that is the prologue for the story so to speak, as I am sure some have noticed there similarities with the original. Though a few differences which were mentioned and which will be explored as the story progresses.**

 **I will also try to avoid character bashing and exaggerated character traits, as I have noticed with a couple of stories that the worst qualities in characters are brought to the fore, with their positive traits having been forgotten or underdeveloped. I tended to dislike some of the stories where this was so overly prevalent that it tended to ruin the story.**

 **That being said their might be some character bias based off of my own opinion, though I will try to curtail that.**

 **There will be pairings for the story, one of which is slightly different than is usually in stories. Though they will become apparent as the story progresses.**

 **For those interested my next chapter of The Last King is nearly finished.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.**

 **Greed720.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy. The story has a working title a the moment, as in I'm not sure just what I want it to be called. But it does have a clear plot going forward.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _You know what to do." Harry grunted, as he felt pain wracking his body again. His brow furrowing as he looked down at his hand only to see that his skin had taken on a greyish pallor. He had begun to desiccate, as he had suspected would happen. After all the amount of power he had needed to work the ritual had been huge, more than a human body was supposed to be able to handle._

 _Channeling the ley lines of the school had been too much for him, just as he had suspected it would be. Which meant his body was beginning to give way on him, as not even his regenerative abilities could save him._

 _Of course he had factored all of this in his plans, and had experimented with different ways of powering his ritual. Including the Veil of Death in the Ministry, sacrificial magic using a small town or setting off a small atomic explosion and harnessing the power from that. In the end though he decided none of them would be suitable._

 _Which is why he had used the ley lines beneath Hogwarts. Knowing that he had a way to counter the consequences of using it._

 _"_ _Indeed." Dobby replied softly, before he approached Harry and drew his knife. Knowing what he had to do, even if it was unpleasant. "Dobby will see to it."_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 2**

 **( - )**

 **(At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry)**

A languid smile spread across Daphne Greengrass's face as she and several of her friends sat around eating and chatting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. Currently there was a gleam of amusement in her eyes as she silently watched Draco Malfoy, one of her housemates, making a fool of himself before the rest of the table, as he tried to deride Harry Potter. Not realising as he did so that his words had no real effect on the vaunted Boy-Who-Lived, who wasn't even within hearing range, and instead just made Draco look petty and obsessed.

Of course she wasn't about to say that out loud, not because she feared retribution from Draco though. The boy was all bark and no bite, how he'd ever been deemed worthy enough to end up in Slytherin House she'd never know.

Either way, it was not his reaction that kept her quiet, it was the balance of power in Slytherin. A balance that was about equal at the moment, as the blood purists and the more moderate students maintained an uneasy relationship/truce. Appearing to the rest of the school like they were one allied unit, when in fact they were made up of many different warring factions, of which Daphne and her small group was one.

Rolling her eyes, Daphne instead just shared an amused look with Tracey Davies and Blaise Zabini, her two closest friends at Hogwarts. One that was shared as they too seemed to be enjoying Malfoy's clowning around.

The topic of course was Harry Potter, who once again had managed to land himself in a heap of trouble. The green eyed Gryffindor having somehow entered his name into the Goblet of Fire. Which in itself was quite impressive, as it would have meant he would have needed to circumvent Dumbledore's protections. Unfortunately though he had also managed to get himself picked as one of the Champions. The Fourth Champion in fact, which was odd considering there were only supposed to be three.

This of course had all happened a couple of weeks ago, on Halloween, the day after the delegations from Beauxbaton Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute had arrived at Hogwarts to take part in the Tri-Wizard tournament.

With Viktor Krum having been selected as the Durmstrang Champion, the hook nosed, brooding Bulgarian having cut a less than impressive figure as he stood up with a scowl on his face and a slouching posture, before he was directed to another room behind the teacher's table. Though with Krum looks could be deceiving, after all he was apparently a professional Quidditch player, and a pretty powerful wizard, or at least that was what some of the older members of her House had said.

After that Fleur Delacour, a pretty French witch with silvery blonde hair and blue eyes had been picked as the Beauxbaton Champion. Not that her own classmates had seemed that enthusiastic, as Daphne could have sworn she had seen a couple of them crying. Still the girl had happily stood up and followed Krum to the backroom. Drawing a lot of attention as she did so, the girl's apparent Veela nature, being too much for a number of the students as they had just stared at her slack jawed as she passed by.

Then final the third Champion, the Hogwarts champion was picked, with it being Cedric Diggory in the end. Who, upon being called had stood up a happy smile on his face as he had stood and waved to the cheering Hogwart's students, basking in their adulation for a moment as he did so.

With most of the adulation being because Cedric was actually quite a popular guy. The main reason being that he was reasonably good looking, quite bright and a member of a school Quidditch team. Overall as Champions go he was pretty acceptable, with the only issue being that he was a Hufflepuff.

In fact Daphne had almost laughed out loud when she had heard the name of their school champion, not because she disliked him though. No, it was more because she wasn't able to help but doubt the skills of a Hufflepuff student, even if he was in seventh year. After all they weren't known as the House of leftovers for nothing. Call it House bias, but she would have much preferred the school's Champion to be a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw, hell she would have preferred a dullard Gryffindor.

Still the loyal Hogwarts student she was, she had ended up clapping along with everyone else, despite her reservations, because in the end despite being a Hufflepuff, Cedric was still a member of her school, and so the champion that she wanted to win. Besides from what she'd head he was at least marginally skilled as a wizard, and a Pureblood to boot, which would appease even the most rapid blood purists. Which Daphne was happy to say she was not, though she was a bit leery of loyalty muggleborns when it came to them choosing between muggles and magicals.

But then after Cedric had left it had also seemed to go wrong, because a minute or so after the Hufflepuff's name had come out of the Goblet of Fire, the cup had activated again, for a fourth time. The flames of the cup rising higher, before they had spat out another name, the name of the fourth Champion in the Tri-Wizard tournament, Harry Potter.

Suffice to say when Dumbledore had read out that name the entire hall had been taken aback, in fact Daphne could never remember it being as quiet as it had been after Dumbledore's announcement.

Daphne herself had also been completely taken aback. After all, how on earth did Harry Potter, an average fourth year student, manage to even get his name into the Goblet of Fire. She had seen students from multiple Houses, including the sneaky and conniving Weasley twins trying and failing to get passed the age line the Headmaster had set up.

She had even seen a couple of older Slytherin students testing to see if you could just levitate your name in, or scrunch the slip of paper your name was written on and throw it into the cup. None of those attempts worked either, Dumbledore having obviously put up more protections on the cup than just the age line.

But somehow though, Potter had managed to enter himself. Though than in itself was questionable as not only had he vehemently denied it, but also he had been entered as the Champion of a Fourth School. Which would have required a certain amount of cunning and guile, which Harry Potter lacked, to accomplish, plus a very powerful confundus charm. Or at least that was the conclusion Daphne had managed to draw.

Of course very soon after that Potter had become somewhat of a pariah in the school. With Slytherin turning on him because he was Harry Potter, and a number of the more vocal members and blood purists had personal grudges against him. The rest of the House just falling in line in order to keep up appearances, even if they didn't particular care about Harry Potter one way or the other.

The Ravenclaws had also turned against him, showing a surprisingly vindictive side to them. No doubt Dumbledore's ham-fisted way of helping Gryffindor win the House Cup, by giving Potter and his friend's last minute points for the last three years might have had something to do with that. The Ravenclaws after all were a competitive lot, and no doubt suspected some foul play involved with Harry Potter being the one selected to be Champion.

Hufflepuff had of course been pissed off with Harry stealing their Champions thunder. Though Daphne could completely understand that sentiment, after all Cedric was literally their only claim to fame. Still the vehemence of their response was surprising considering that Hufflepuff's were usually quite cheerful and friendly. Which could only mean they were very pissed off at the moment.

Most surprisingly though was Gryffindor House's reaction, which was mixed to say the least. Apparently both of Potter's closest friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had abandoned him, with the story being that they both suspected he put his name in and didn't believe him when he denied it, which had led to an argument and a mutual break up of their friendship.

The rest of the Gryffindor's were a bit more mixed as some thought Harry was cheating, whilst others liked that he was representing their House.

Still the reaction had been enough to isolate Potter. So much so that he was barely ever seen outside of classes nowadays, and he'd also apparently moved out of his dorm with the permission of his Head of House and was sleeping elsewhere. Which had set the rumour mill ablaze as many thought this meant that he'd been banished from his House and had been forced out.

Though Daphne herself somewhat doubted that, after all she had never heard of anything like that happening in the entire thousand years of Hogwart's history. Still the fact that he'd left his dorm and been moved elsewhere was apparently true. Which must have meant he had likely fallen out with the year mates he shared the room with.

From what she had heard he was now in a private room, one that was usually meant for apprentices, back when Hogwarts teachers were actual allowed apprentices, which hadn't been the cases for centuries.

Not that Daphne particular cared. Don't get her wrong she didn't dislike Potter, but she didn't like him either. To her he was a nonentity, he was someone who could have been great if he was sensible enough to use his fame and popularity as oppose to hiding from it. Still she was an observant person, which is why the few times she had seen him, she had noticed he was looking paler and thinner than ever.

Or at least he had been, up until a few days ago when he had seemed to have gotten a second wind. That or someone had finally slapped some sense into him, as he had once again retuned to eating in the Great Hall and had even been seen smiling once or twice. Plus he had gotten rid of those ridiculous glasses.

Grunting in irritation, Daphne, forcibly pushed those thoughts away, unsure why she had been dwelling on Potter. Instead she focused on the here and now. A slight smile gracing her face as she looked over to Tracey.

"So what do you reckon the results of today will be?" Tracey asked, the perpetually cheerful brunette grinning as she noticed the expression on Daphne's face. Her hazel eyes twinkling as she realised she had caught her off-guard. "You know the first task?"

Daphne smiled slightly at that, it was a common reaction when it came to dealing with Tracey. Who despite being a Half-Blood in Slytherin was almost universally liked by everyone due to her easy going nature, even the blood purists couldn't help but be fond of her.

"Well I'd like to say Hogwarts will win, but somehow I don't have much confidence in that." Daphne replied dryly, the slightest of smiles on her face as she looked over at Tracey. Her violet coloured eyes twinkling slightly as she saw Tracey feign a grimace.

"Talk about school spirit." Tracey complained.

"Well you can't blame her, I mean Diggory is a Hufflepuff and Potter, well Potter is just a fourth year." Blaise cut it, the dark skinned boy rolling his eyes as he did so.

"Hey, from what I heard Cedric is a pretty good wizard. I mean he'd have to be if he was selected as Champion." Tracey replied, poking Blaise in the arm as she did so.

"That or he's the best of a bad lot." Daphne cut in, the slightest of smiles on her face as she watched Blaise and Tracey's interaction. "I mean can you name anyone else who could fit the role? Lucian Bole is probably the best seventh year our House has to offer, and he's pretty useless."

"Don't be mean Daph." Tracey replied, though she also smiled slightly. "Lucian's a nice enough guy, he's just a little slow."

"And he can also hear you." Blaise cut in dryly, an amused smile on his face as he looked further up the table and saw Lucian scowling at them.

"Hiya Lucian!" Tracey responded as she turned and waved at the thick set boy, who after a few moments rolled his eyes and gave a perfunctory wave back. Once again it was difficult to stay angry with someone so happy and friendly.

"But anyway," Daphne said, as she looked away from Bole and instead at her two friends. "I've heard a rumour that the first task involves dragons."

"Really?" Tracey asked excitably, her eyes gleaming eagerly at the thought of seeing a dragon in real life.

"That sounds a bit dangerous, I doubt Dumbledore would sanction something like that." Blaise added in doubtfully.

Daphne however merely shrugged in response, before she looked over to Tracey. "So who do you think will come out on top?"

Tracey shifted slightly as she heard that, a thoughtful expression on her face before she shrugged. "I reckon it will be Potter?"

"Really?" Blaise asked incredulously, gaining the attention of several other people at his exclamation. Including Malfoy, who looked over at the trio with a scowl on his face.

Tracey however merely shrugged nonchalantly in response. "Yeah, I mean you heard the rumours about him. I reckon he'll pull some crazy shit and come first."

"Really Davies? You actually believe those rumours?" Malfoy drawled, a mocking expression on his face as he butted his way into their conversation. Several members of his clique like Crabbe, Goyle, Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson all laughing along as he then proceeded to make some derogatory comments about Potter.

"Well most rumours have some basis in fact." Daphne cut in, quickly defending her friend as she sent Malfoy a frosty look. The skinny blonde haired teen having long since been on her shit list, ever since he had tried to throw his weight around in their first year, trying to make out he was some kind of King of Slytherin because he had a well-off father who had a number of dodgy connections. Suffice to say he was slapped down pretty quickly.

"Really Greengrass you too?" Malfoy replied as he looked over at her, a sneer on his face.

Daphne shrugged in response, using of her hands to push her long silvery blonde hair over her shoulder as she did so. "I'm not saying Potter will win, if anything I think the French witch, Fleur, will win it."

"What that filthy Veela half breed?" Pansy Parkinson suddenly spat, a look of faint disgust on her face. "Of course you'd root for her, we all know about your tainted blood?"

Daphne clenched her teeth as she heard that, her eyes flashing dangerously as she had to forcibly restrain herself from going for her wand.

"And what do you mean by that?" Blaise asked, his nonchalance fading away as he sent Pansy a scathing look.

"Come on now Blaise she's merely stating what we all know. Greengrass's grandfather I think? Went and married some Swedish, Veela whore, polluting their bloodline." Draco commented, a mocking tone to his voice as he looked over to Daphne. Looking quite pleased with himself as if he had just won some great victory.

"And your point is?" Daphne replied, her tone taking on a mocking quality as she did so.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes as he heard that, the rest of the students nearby all quieting down as they instead listened in on the confrontation. Draco himself was suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. After all he knew that in terms of political power outside of school, that Greengrass's family was wealthier and more influential than his own.

Which meant that baiting Greengrass like he had, might have been a bit of a mistake. Not that he expected there to be any repercussion to his family from this, but it did mean he was burning bridges which could be useful in later life.

With that thought in mind, Malfoy decided to air on the side of caution. "I have no point."

Daphne cocked an elegantly, shaped eyebrow at that, amused as she could almost read the thoughts going through the little ferret's mind. "Well that's fine then, I always did think you were pointless."

That comment caused a round of laughter, as Malfoy flushed scarlet and backed down. His friends joining him as they quickly finished their meal and left. The rest of the House returning to normal, now that the entertainment was over.

"You know, you can only poke at him so long before he'll snap." Blaise said as he carefully watched Malfoy and his entourage as they left the hall.

"I know, but he's always the one that starts it." Daphne replied nonchalantly.

"Yes, but you know who is father is and who he was connected to." Tracey said quietly, referencing Malfoy's Death Eater father and his connections to the rest of the Dark Lord's former supporters.

Daphne grimaced as she heard that. "I know who he's connected with. But their Master is gone, and they no longer hold the power they once did."

"Their ideology remains strong though, all they need is a new figurehead." Blaise muttered, referencing the fact that there were still a lot of blood purists in Wizarding society, influential ones to. Ones who might not be as extreme or militant as the Death Eaters had been, but who were still dangerous in their own way.

Daphne nodded at that, before she pushed herself up. "Tell you what, I'll see you both down at the arena. For now I'm going to go for a walk, get a bit of fresh air."

"You want some company?" Tracey asked as she looked up at Daphne.

Daphne though merely smirked in response. "No it's alright, besides who'll keep Blaise company if you leave?"

Tracey's cheeks went slightly pink as she heard that, before she shot Daphne a 'please shut up' look.

Not that Daphne cared, Blaise and Tracey had been dancing around each other since second year. It was about time they both grew up and realised they liked one another, in a way that was more than friends.

 **( - )**

A few minutes later Daphne left the Great Hall, ignoring the commotion and the excitement that seemed to have taken hold of the school as she did so. Not that she herself wasn't excited for the upcoming tournament as she was, it was a once in a generation event after all, she just didn't like loud, noisy crowds. Instead she enjoyed peace and quiet, and preferred her own company to most other peoples. Though there were some exceptions to this rule, like Tracey and Blaise, and her family.

Leaving the castle Daphne instead began to wander down to the edge of the lake, she didn't really have a plan in mind or anything she wanted to do. Instead she just wanted to sit in her usual spot by the lake and get a bit of fresh air, maybe pass the time people watching.

It was something she often tended to do, as she found the halls of Hogwarts too crowded, despite the population of the school being barely five hundred.

As she approached her usual spot though, a small outcropping of rock with a willow tree overhead, she noticed that someone was already occupying it. The someone, being a lean, dark haired boy around her own age, with twinkling emerald green eyes and a winning smile on his face as he turned and saw her approaching.

Upon seeing him Daphne frowned, not because the boy was in her spot, after all it was a free country and he had just as much right to sit there as she herself did. No, she frowned as she saw his reaction, it was odd, far friendlier than she expected it would be, and not in keeping with what she had seen of him so far. This was after all Harry Potter.

That's not to say she knew the other teen well, in fact she didn't even think they had ever actually met properly, despite having shared classes for the last three years. Still she had seen enough of him to have assessed his character and come to a conclusion, usually when she was a spectator in the common Potter/ Malfoy bickering match that happened every week or so. Or at least it had before his name had come out of the Goblet of Fire and he had started to isolate himself from the rest of the school.

Still she had seen enough of him to know he was kind of broody and antisocial, never really reaching out beyond his friendship with Granger and Weasley, and certainly never being friendly to Slytherins. The Gryffindor having fallen hook line and sinker for the whole 'all Slytherin are dark and evil' thing that some of the more vocal Griffindors shouted about.

That being said, looking at him now Daphne decided, more on a whim than anything, to approach him. Not that she was expecting much from it, but he had made her curious and she couldn't help but want to try and assuage that curiosity.

"Afternoon." Harry said simply, as Daphne approached him.

Daphne cocked an eyebrow as she heard that, her lips twitching in amusement at his nonchalant greeting. Taking the time to study him a little closer as she did, she noted his messy black hair, the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, which looked more faded than she thought it was and his moderately good-looking features. She also noted he was wearing a clean blue T-shirt, a pair of new looking brown, leather boots and black jeans, a far cry from the baggy and worn clothing he usually wore.

On top of that she could see he had ditched the glasses, his emerald green eyes, brighter than she had thought they were, now more visible, much to her pleasure. After all she could admit to herself that he had pretty eyes. He also seemed to have better posture than she remembered, sitting upright and confidently a he looked over at her, not the hunched over and visibly uncomfortable bearing he usually had.

"Afternoon," Daphne replied, a note of curiousity in her voice as she took a seat on the rock outcropping, a couple of feet away from him. More interested than ever as she tried to work out what had happened to Potter.

"Its Daphne isn't it? Daphne Greengrass?" Harry asked as he leaned back on his hands, and gave Daphne a wide smile.

"Yes, and I of course already know you." Daphne replied, somewhat surprised that he knew her. As he rarely left his social circle, and being raised by muggles he likely did not have that much knowledge of the old families and the Wizarding social elite.

"Well who doesn't, I am a household name after all?" Harry responded cheerfully, a slightly mocking note to his voice.

Daphne cocked an eyebrow at that, but still couldn't help but smile. She could tell he wasn't being arrogant, if anything he was mocking the fact that he was so well known.

"You know I think this is the first time we've ever actually spoken." Daphne suddenly commented.

"Probably," Harry shrugged. "But that's more my fault than yours?"

"Oh?" Daphne queried.

"Yeah, I can admit to being a bit… insular… in my younger years. Now though, now though I like to think I'm a better version of how I was." Harry replied back easily, not holding back as he pretty much summarized how he had been acting for the last few years. "Though there were reasons for that, but well, they're not something I'm particularly interested in going into."

"And what inspired this change?" Daphne queried a slight smile on her face, as she found herself somehow liking this easy-going Harry Potter. Easily ignoring his comment about his reasons for being how he was, after all she had heard he was raised by muggles, and their kind weren't always the most forward thinking of beings when it came to magic. Daphne knew that better than most, after all her mother was a Mind Healer who worked with both children and adults, most of whom were muggleborn.

"Well let's just say I had a change of heart. In fact you could say that I feel like a whole new person, free and unencumbered." Harry said, raising his arms as if to prove the point.

"You know, one could almost think you were snorting Fairy Dust." Daphne commented dryly, referencing an illegal high end narcotic as she did so.

"If only, but fifty galleons an ounce is a bit too much for me. Not when you can get a five galleon bottle of off brand fire whiskey." Harry said glibly.

"I never took you for a drinker?" Daphne asked, quite amused by how open he was.

"Can't say I am really, alcohol never did much for me, but a nip here and there is pretty nice. Especially fire whiskey, I love the burning feeling as you drink it, it's quite the kick." Harry shrug, before he shot Daphne a curious look. "Though I am surprised."

"Oh?" Daphne said.

"Yeah, I would have thought you and your friends would be heading to the arena, you know for the upcoming task?" Harry continued, shifting around as he did so, so that he was now fully facing her.

"You're one to talk, after all you're the one taking part in it." Daphne replied dryly, before she shrugged. "Besides, Blaise and Tracey will likely save me a seat, for now I am more interested in finding out about the new Harry Potter?"

"Oh my, I didn't realise I interested you so?" Harry responded a cheeky smile on his face.

Daphne merely rolled her eyes at that, but didn't deny that he did interest her. After all he didn't act like the other boy's at the school did, there was no eyeing her up like a piece of meat, or staring at her 'assets'. He even managed to resist her passive allure, which although quite due to her grandmother being a Veela and her blood having been quite diluted, was still enough to entrance most boys when they were one on one.

"I take it that you're not worried about the first task then? I mean you are aware that there are rumours concerning dragons for the first task today?" Daphne asked, a curious look on her face as she watched his expression carefully. Only to be surprised as she saw amusement there, instead of shock, surprise or concern.

"Oh, yeah I know, I even saw them not that long ago." Harry replied cheerfully, not a hint of fear or concern in her voice. "They're magnificent beasties, actually. Can't wait to see them up close and personal?"

Daphne stared at him for a moment at that, before she suddenly let out a slight laugh.

An action that made Harry grin wider, an almost fond looking appearing in his eyes as he gazed at her.

"Well I have to say you're a lot crazier than I thought you would be? I mean you must've finally lost it?" Daphne said, a smile on her face as she did so.

"I prefer eccentric, to crazy." Harry replied easily.

"I'm sure." Daphne responded, before she paused a curious look on her face. "So Potter…"

"Call me Harry." Harry interrupted.

"Ok then, Harry." Daphne continued, rolling her eyes even if she did smile a bit. "Since you're apparently being so honest, can I ask you something?"

"Go for it." Harry said.

"Did you really put your name in the Goblet of Fire?" Daphne asked, not really sure why she asked. But for some reason it just felt like now was a good time to do so.

Harry cocked his head as he heard that, before he shrugged. "No I didn't, don't get me wrong it sounds like a riot and looking back on it I probably would have done. But did I actually put my own name into the Goblet? No, that was someone else."

Daphne frowned as she heard that, knowing as she did so that he was being honest. But it did make her want to ask another question. "And why exactly would someone go to all that trouble just to put you in the tournament?"

Harry shrugged in response. "Likely because they thought it would be a good way to humiliate me, kill me, or maybe something else more sinister."

Daphne cocked an eyebrow at that, thinking him slightly paranoid, though considering his track record so far, maybe that wasn't surprising. "Do you really think that?"

"Who knows, that's my theory at least, and what I'm planning for." Harry responded.

"You have a plan?" Daphne asked with mock surprise, a cheeky smile on her face.

"Absolutely," Harry replied, before grinning as he saw the expectant look on Daphne's face.

Rolling her eyes at that and stifling her amusement, Daphne instead decided to be honest with him. "You know, I actually believe you didn't put your name in the Goblet. I mean, I doubt it would be that easy to get past Dumbledore's protections. Certainly beyond a student at Hogwarts."

"Ouch, and there I was thinking that I was supposed to be the second coming of merlin." Harry said dryly.

"Be careful Potter, or I might start to think that you're as big headed as they say." Daphne replied.

"Which means that you don't think that at the moment?" Harry said quickly.

Daphne smiled as she heard that. "Well let's just say you surprised me. You're not like I thought you would be, I actually find myself quite liking this new Harry Potter thing you've got going on."

"Be careful there, I thought we were supposed to be enemies?" Harry said a smirk on his face. "Or does the whole taboo of it interest you?"

Daphne rolled her eyes as she heard that, but still found herself smiling. "If you buy into all that House rivalry business then you're as idiotic as Malfoy is. It's all schoolyard stuff, none of it really matters in the end. After all once you leave school nobody will care which House you were in."

"I know, but you have to admit the rivalry is a bit of fun. A good way to break up the monotony of school." Harry said a grin on his face as he heard Daphne's comment.

"We study magic Potter, a craft without limits. If you find yourself getting bored, then that's because you yourself lack the imagination to explore the true wonders that magic is capable of." Daphne said, with a shrug.

"Oooh, quick and witty. I like it." Harry replied. "But yeah, I agree with you there. Magic has endless possibilities, and endless opportunities. You'd have to be a fool not to take advantage of it. After all with a single spell you could do anything from say, curing Dragon Pox, to who knows, going back in time and setting your life on the right course."

"Two strange and widely different examples, but you make a good point." Daphne said, a bit amused by his comment, but also curious. "So if I may, what kind of magic interest you?" It was a bit presumptuous to ask, but she'd been enjoying the conversation. It was so rare you got to meet someone who thought so similarity to you.

"Runes, and Alchemy really." Harry commented, with a shrug. "I find the idea of rituals and their potential fascinating."

"Two quite esoteric and potentially dangerous branches of magic." Daphne commented, surprised now as she'd been expecting him to say battle magic or something a bit flashier. The fact he mentioned rituals, a borderline, but not quite dark practice was very interesting. "Though I am curious, why didn't you take Ancient Runes if you found the subject so 'fascinating'?"

"An oversight, one which I will be soon correcting." Harry replied easily, before fixing her with an amused look. "Though I am curious about what branches of magic you're interested in?"

Daphne paused as she heard that. A part of her not wanting to share her desire with him, though another part, a greater part of her was curious about what his reaction would be.

"I'm interested in the mind arts." Daphne replied simply.

"Occlumency and Legilimency, two devilishly tricky skills and just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to that generally unexplored branch of magic." Harry commented, an impressed expression on his face as he saw Daphne's surprised look.

"Not many people know of those two practices. In fact only the older Wizarding families still practice them?" Daphne said, the question clear in her response.

"What can I say, I have to do something whilst I'm brooding." Harry replied.

It was a deflection, Daphne could see that much. But still she didn't expect him to share all of his secrets with her, after all this was the first time she'd ever actually spoken to him. Even so though, it definitely made her more intrigued than ever to find out just who Harry Potter was as a person.

Before anymore could be said between the two of them, they were interrupted by a sudden cracking sound behind them.

Blinking at that, Daphne twisted around only to stare in bemusement at the dapper looking House Elf standing behind them. One who seemed to stand straighter and more confidently then their own family House Elf, and who was wearing a small black, butler uniform.

"Ermm hello?" Daphne said, the bemused expression not leaving her face as she saw the House Elf suddenly give them both a curt bow.

"Ms Greengrass, a pleasure to see you." The Elf replied almost fondly, its voice coming out clear and remarkably well-spoken, not like the slightly fractured English most House Elves spoke.

"A pleasure?" Daphne said, before giving the Elf an expectant look. Wondering exactly why it was here.

"The First Task will soon start Master, Ms McGonagall asked a Hogwart's House Elf, to find you. However I dismissed him and said I will get you instead." The House Elf said, looking to Harry as he did so.

"Thanks Dobby, and how did McGonagall take that?" Harry asked, a hint of amusement in his voice as he looked over at the now named Dobby. A name that sounded eerily familiar to Daphne, though she couldn't quite place where she had heard it before.

"Surprisingly well, though she was confused to find out you had a House Elf. Not that it bothered her, she just told me to tell you, that she normally expected prior notification if students wanted to interact with their family House Elves on Hogwart's grounds." Dobby replied, a mock reprimanding note in his voice.

Harry nodded at that, an amused glint in his eyes, before he pushed himself to his feet.

"Well bugger, it looks like I'll have to cut our conversation short. Still though, I enjoyed it." Harry said a kind smile on his face as looked down at her, a strange looking in his eyes as he met her gaze, emerald locking with violet for a few moments. It was an odd look, one which she struggled to recognise.

"Yeah, I enjoyed talking to you too." And surprisingly she had, most of the time she found talking with other people her age tedious. Especially since she had begun to practice and hone her Occlumency, which had caused her to mature mentally far beyond her peers. Even the other Purebloods who practised the basics of the art, after all due to her interests she had pushed her Occlumency farther than normal.

"Good, don't forget to watch the First Task though, because I promise you, you'll be in for a show." Harry said a sudden grin on his face, before he turned and began to walk back to the castle. "See you later Daphne!"

Watching him leave, Daphne couldn't help but look at his retreating back in confusion. Not at all sure what to think of what had just happened. After all he had just blown all of her expectations out of the water.

"Yeah… I'll see you later…" Daphne said softly, once uncertain as to just what she should think about the enigmatic and eccentric young man.

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry)**

"You're looking happy Master." Dobby commented absently as he walked beside Harry as the both of them headed up to the castle.

"That's because I am happy Dobby, happier than I've been in a very long time." Harry replied softly, a small smile on his face as he glanced back and saw the beautiful, silvery, blonde haired girl looking back at him.

"I'm glad, though shouldn't you be focusing on what's to come Master? You are facing a dragon in an hour after all." Dobby replied.

"Well I faced it down as a kid and beat it, I'd like to think that I'm a lot stronger and more experienced than I was back then." Harry said in response, shrugging his shoulders at the comment, not too concerned about the task ahead for the moment.

Dobby hummed at that, acknowledging that Harry did have a point.

"So how are you feeling Master?" Dobby then said, looking up at his now teenaged Master, his brow furrowed as did so. "Was the transition successful?"

"My new, or I suppose I should say old body, it feels weak. Almost fragile." Harry commented, a frown on his face as he looked down at his body, it was shorter than he was used to, skinnier too. When he had first tried to move in it he'd fallen on his arse, in fact it had taken him nearly twenty minutes to break it in and even then he was clumsier than usual.

"I will begin gathering some supplies for some strengthening rituals then." Dobby said simply, the Elf's mind already running through the places he could get said ingredients. "I will also set up the Chamber of Secrets as our base, again."

"Thanks," Harry replied appreciatively, before a curious expression passed across his face. "Tell me though, have you come across your younger counterpart yet?"

Dobby's lips quirked as he heard that, before he shook his head, his large ears flapping about as he did so. "No, but I believe it will be interesting great Master Harry Potter sir!" Dobby said, pitching his voice higher as he mimicked the way he used to sound.

Harry winced as he heard that. "What did I say about calling me that?"

"I can't remember." Was the response he received.

"I do have a question though Master, about your plans going forward." Dobby suddenly added in, catching Harry's attention as he stopped walking and turned to face the House Elf, a curious look on his face.

"Oh?"

"Yes Master, I'd like to know what you plan to do about the event at the end of the Third Task?" Dooby then said, his expression currently as serious as a House Elf's could be.

"Voldemort's rebirth." Harry said dryly, his brow furrowed at that thought. "He is not my priority, I will destroy the Horcuxes of his that I know about and will try and impede his resurrection if I can. But I won't go out of my way to confront him. Even now I'm not certain I would be able to best him in a duel."

Dobby frowned as he heard that. "So you will do nothing if he manages to revive himself?"

"As I said I will try and stop his resurrection, and do as much as I can to see to his downfall. However I did not come for him, nor is he the most dangerous threat that we face." Harry replied, his expression becoming sterner as he said that. "I will not put everything I have worked for at risk, nor will I put my loved ones at risk, even if it means taking a back seat in the fight against Voldemort. Besides we only know of the location of a couple of his soul anchors, until we find all of them he'll never be finished for good."

Dobby nodded at that, clearly not entirely happy with the answer but accepting of it for now. After all he knew of the hellish things that had come to pass the first time around, and he trusted his Master to see to it that such events would not happen this time.

"Good, now I have a dragon to beat and girl's to woo!" Harry then continued, his cheerful demeanour returning as he pushed aside the thoughts of what had been, and instead focused on the here and now, and his primary reason for his current actions.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So as you can see this is a very different Harry. He will have a certain skillset, but in no way will be godly, as I don't like massively overpowered stories and prefer a distinct balance in my stories.**

 **I've also taken liberties with some of the canon characters, giving them certain twists that I quite like. Like Daphne, moving away from the whole Ice Queen vibe that is commonly used. Though I did keep certain aspects of that persona, I've just changed her backstory to give them new context.**

 **I will have done the same to one or two other characters which I think were underdeveloped. Giving them added character traits, with backstory, most of these being characters who in canon were just names and nothing more.**

 **This Harry will also have a very different backstory, with everything being canon up until fourth year at which point it changed. Which will have had both positive and negative effects on the timeline. His abilities will also be expanded upon, similar to his goals and what the 'transition' he mentioned refers to.**

 **My goal for this story is for it to move passed Hogwarts eventually and into a more expanded HPverse.**

 **Hope you enjoy the story.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Greed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for reading.**

 **Hope you leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **(Last Time)**

 **( - )**

 _"_ _As I said I will try and stop his resurrection, and do as much as I can to see to his downfall. However I did not come for him, nor is he the most dangerous threat that we face." Harry replied, his expression becoming sterner as he said that. "I will not put everything I have worked for at risk, nor will I put my loved ones at risk, even if it means taking a back seat in the fight against Voldemort. Besides we only know of the location of a couple of his soul anchors, until we find all of them he'll never be finished for good."_

 _Dobby nodded at that, clearly not entirely happy with the answer but accepting of it for now. After all he knew of the hellish things that had come to pass the first time around, and he trusted his Master to see to it that such events would not happen this time._

 _"_ _Good, now I have a dragon to beat and girl's to woo!" Harry then continued, his cheerful demeanour returning as he pushed aside the thoughts of what had been, and instead focused on the here and now, and his primary reason for his current actions._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 3**

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry)**

"You wanted to see me Professor McGonagall?" Harry asked curiously.

"Ah yes, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall replied as she turned to look at Harry, a look of faint impatience on her face, due to her having been waiting in the entrance hall for some time now, all in the hopes of finding the errant Gryffindor Champion. "I'm here to collect you and take you to the Champion's tent. Where Mr Bagman and other judges will brief you and the other Champions on the upcoming task."

"Alright then, err, thanks Professor," Harry replied, before he made to follow his Head of House down to the large, white tent just outside of the dragon's arena. As he did so he saw the form of Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody lurking about nearby, or as least the man pretending to be the former auror.

After all Harry hadn't forgotten who he really was, nor would he. That being said, he knew he needed to be… subtle in how he approached the man, after all the last thing he wanted was some extravagant duel which could potentially get out of hand.

"Just stay calm Potter, don't lose your head, and everything will turn out fine," McGonagall suddenly said, catching Harry's attention as he looked away from the imposter Moody, who even now was sending Harry strangely suspicious looks. Harry's attention instead moving to follow McGonagall as she led the way to the tent, the older woman looking much tenser than normal as she strode across the Hogwart's grounds.

"Thanks, Professor," Harry responded, not sure what else to say.

McGonagall paused as she heard that, a look of concern passing across her face as she did so. "Are you ok Mr Potter? I know the last few weeks have been… difficult for you, so if you have any trouble, or ever need someone to talk to, then I want you to know that I am here for you."

Harry smiled as he heard that, he had almost forgotten just how kind McGonagall could be. Though that was mostly because she hid that softer side of her behind her stern, ball busting façade. Still he appreciated her concern, even if he did think she could be a bit more proactive when it came to reining in the nastier students in Hogwarts.

"Thanks Professor, I'll keep that in mind." Harry replied with a nod and a slight smile, as the two of them reach a large canvas tent. Both of them pausing at the entrance.

"Good luck, Harry." McGonagall replied quickly, before with another nod and a tight smile she turned and swept away. Leaving Harry behind as he watched her leave, a fond smile on his face as he watched the older woman walk away, before with a sigh he turned and entered the tent.

 **( - )**

A few minutes later found Harry entering the Champion's tent alone, a slightly nostalgic expression on his face as he remembered how tense and scared he had felt the first time he had entered this tent. Now though, as an older and more experienced man, he entered the tent confidently and with a smile on his face.

Upon doing so he noticed that he was the last of the four Champions to arrive. With Viktor Krum already there, leaning against one of the poles of the tent, a scowl on his face and his arms crossed in front of him. His dark eyes narrowed as he looked around the tent at the other Champions, silently assessing their strength and potential as he did so. No doubt trying to work out which of them would be his biggest challenge in the upcoming tournament.

Fleur Delacour, the French Champion, was also in the tent. Sitting on a nearby chair to one side of the tent, her tanned skin looking quite pale and her sky, blue eyes hidden from view as she clenched her eyes shut. Her breaths coming out low and slow, as she sat there quietly.

To Harry it was almost as if she were meditating. Though it might also be that that was her way of trying to deal with the stress of the upcoming task. With both Krum, herself and Harry being the only three of the four Champions who actually knew what the First Task was.

Which of course left Cedric Diggory as the only Champion in the dark. Previously of course Harry, the first time around, had once considered telling Cedric of what the task might entail after he had found out from Hagrid. That had been before he had realised that Cedric was doing nothing to discourage his peers from their vendetta against Harry, which had made Harry feel less than generous when it came to the Hufflepuff Champion.

This time around Harry hadn't changed his mind. Call him petty but, as far as Harry was concerned Cedric was a stuck up arsehole. Besides it also helped to whittle down the competition, and he wasn't talking about the tournament.

Looking around Harry ended up rolling his eyes as he saw that the other three had apparently all dressed up for the occasion. With Krum wearing tightly fitted robes, with protective leather gloves and shin and forearms guards. Fleur meanwhile had gone for blue and silver robes, with similar protections to Krum, only she also had a leather chest guard with the Beauxbaton crest on the front. Even Cedric had seemed to have gotten dressed up, as he was wearing black and yellow robes, with the Hufflepuff crest over his heart. His clothing in question looking like a slightly altered version of his Quidditch kit.

It made Harry's T-shirt and jeans combo look rather foolish in comparison. Not that he really cared, they were comfortable after all, and for him comfort was more useful than some flashy robes and leather armour. Especially since dragon fire would incinerate you regardless of what you were wearing.

"Afternoon all," Harry said cheerfully as he saw his appearance had been noted by the others. Krum looking at him suspiciously, his dark eyes narrowed as he looked Harry up and down. Noting as he did Harry's casual attire and the sheathed wand he had strapped to his bare forearm.

Fleur too reacted as she heard his comment, opening her blue eyes and sending him a penetrating look. The girl obviously as unimpressed with the 'little boy', as she had been when they had first met the night he had been chosen as Champion. Not that he cared, don't get him wrong she was a nice enough lass, but she ended up settling down with a Weasley, so her tastes in men were pretty damn questionable.

As for Cedric he just sent Harry an awkward nod, and a tight smile, which faded as he saw Harry cheerfully waltz into the tent as if he hadn't a care in the world. Before, with an almost bored look on his face as he then proceeded to sit down on a chair, before kicking his feet up and relaxing.

"How can you be so calm, Potter?" Cedric asked, pausing in the midst of his pacing as he instead frowned down at Harry, getting the other Champion's attention as they too looked to the youngest Champion. All of them curious about how he was seemingly the calmest one here.

Harry cocked an eyebrow at that, before he shrugged.

"What's the point in worrying about something that's going to happen, no matter what you try and do?" Harry said in response, smiling slightly as he saw Cedric frown in confusion. "We're magically bound to compete in the tournament, we can't back out, even if we wanted to. So we might as well just enjoy it."

"You're crazy Potter, don't you know people have died before in this tournament!?" Cedric responded harshly, his tone turning almost frantic at the end. The stress of the situation having clearly gotten to the older Hufflepuff.

"Well then surely you're the crazy one then? I mean you chose to enter this tournament, I didn't." Harry shot back, the smile not leaving his face.

"That's bollocks and you know it, everyone knows you entered yourself into the tournament!" Cedric snapped back, the stress once again getting the best of him as he tried to vent on Harry.

"Just as everyone knows there is no true god, only the flying spaghetti monster in the sky!" Harry replied back dryly, getting confused glances from the other three. Seeing this Harry's smile intensified. "What? I thought we were all just chatting shit?"

Cedric shook his head at that, "You're a moron, you're going to get yourself killed and for what? So you stay in the limelight just a little bit longer?"

"Well that's just rude. I'd be more than happy to fade away into obscurity, fame is not always a good thing. If you ever grow up, you may realise that." Harry responded, his tone still cheerful as he saw he was getting under Cedric's skin.

"He makes a good point." Krum suddenly spoke up bluntly, his tone low and gravely, and his Bulgarian accent quite thick as he looked between the two noisy Englishmen.

Cedric scoffed at that, but didn't say anymore as he instead just turned away and continued his pacing.

"So Diggory, do you even know what the first task is?" Harry suddenly asked, a slight smile on his face as he saw he once again had the other Champions attention.

Cedric scowled at him as he heard that, still obviously pissed off at Harry for some reason known only to him.

"Why Potter, want me to help you?" Cedric replied, an almost mocking quality to his voice. "Or are you having second thoughts about entering the competition now?"

"Again didn't enter, and besides I've known about them since the night they arrived." Harry replied, taking an almost vindictive pleasure as he saw the confusion on Cedric's face. Again it was petty, but Harry really wasn't keen on the Hufflepuff for personal reasons.

As he said this he also noticed the looks both Fleur and Krum sent him. Obviously he knew that they knew, their Headmaster and Headmistress had told the two of them the first chance they got. Abiding by the unofficial rule of the tournament, that it is ok to cheat as long as you don't get caught. Something Dumbledore was obviously against, the boring old bastard.

Still Krum seemed to be amused as he heard Harry's comment, a slight smile breaking through his usually standard scowl. The Bulgarian having found at least one person who might give him a challenge, even if he was three years his junior. Not that he would underestimate him because of that, after all he had heard the stories about Harry Potter, both the good ones and the bad.

Fleur meanwhile merely scoffed at Harry's comment, an almost pitying expression spreading across her face as she looked between the two Hogwart's Champions. One of them was an overconfident child who didn't know what he'd gotten himself into. The other an unconfident fool, who didn't know how the game worked.

"And what exactly are they, Potter?" Cedric finally replied, the frown still on his face as he tried to goad Harry into revealing some information he could use.

"Yeah…, considering what an arsehole you and your mates have been to me, I think I'll keep that to myself. Besides I think collaborating is against the rules, and you wouldn't want to be accused of cheating would you?" Harry replied back, a winning smile on his face as he gave the scowling Cedric a thumbs up. Knowing as he did that he himself was being a bit of a dick now.

Krum once again smirked slightly as he heard that, enjoying the back and forth between the two Hogwart's students. Fleur meanwhile let out a slight snort of laughter, her silent, icy façade breaking for a second as she heard Harry's ironic comment about cheating.

Before anymore could be said between the four Champions, they were distracted by someone entering the tent. Catching all four of their attentions as they expected the entrants to be Bagman and their Headmasters/mistresses, here to tell them the rules of the upcoming task.

Instead though they were greeted by the unwelcome sight of Rita Skeeter and her photographer, Bruno. Both of whom quickly jumped into action, with the photographer instantly starting to take photos, his large camera flashing almost blinding them as he did so. Rita meanwhile made her way towards the Champions, a patently fake smile on her face as she dug around in her handbag and pulled out her 'quick quotes quill'.

"Ah, the four school Champions all here and all raring to go!" The blonde reporter said gleefully, her cold calculating eyes moving over all of them. Dismissing Cedric as unimportant and not worth her time, other of course giving him a brief acknowledgement at the end of her piece on the tournament.

Rita then glanced over to Fleur and Krum, acknowledging that the part Veela, Fleur something or other, was quite glamourous and that she could interest some of the male readers, then again due to being part creature she might be a turn off to others, especially female readers. Which meant she should be included in the piece sparingly. Then there was the Quidditch star, relevant due to the recent world cup but not overly so due to being foreign.

Then finally there was Harry Potter, a famous name across the Wizarding World and one of Wizarding Britain's most recent claims to fame. On top of which he was a controversial participant due to his age, and likely also quite malleable, a perfect target for her piece.

"So my dears, what are your thoughts on the task at hand, are you worried, scared, nervous excited? Rita asked almost gleefully as she looked around at all four Champion. However, after the silence dragged on for a few seconds with no one looking to take her on and answer her questions. The intrepid reporter took it as an opportunity to turn her full attention on to Harry.

"So Harry my dear, has the realisation of what you signed up for finally sunk in? Are ready to admit you put your name into the goblet and ask to be removed from the task?" The blond reporter asked, an almost hungry look on her face as she gazed down at the sitting teen.

"Rita Skeeter?" Harry said in amusement, his bright green eyes twinkling with hidden amusement as he sat up straighter in his chair. "Are you still crawling around 'bugging' people? I would have thought an insect like you would've realised that I have nothing to say to you? So let me officially say, I'm giving no comments and will happily sue you if you write anything about me or claim I made any quotes that I've not."

"My dear Harry, I regret to inform you that as a celebrity and as a Champion, the public has the right to know the truth about you." Rita replied, her smile becoming more fixed and a vindictive gleam entering her gaze.

Harry's smile didn't waver as he heard that, though he did notice that her lime green quill was scribbling away as she talked. No doubt inventing another story about how he was a lying, conniving, cheat. Or how he was dating Hermione, and that his delusions of grandeur and mental instability had caused them to break up after he had entered the tournament and betrayed her trust. Or some other bollocks that she thought would sell the rag she called a newspaper.

Not that Harry would let her, as with a flick of his wrist he drew his wand and incinerated the scroll of paper her quill was scribbling away on. His smile remaining fixed on his face as then calmly sheathed his wand and looked up at the shocked Rita. "As I said Rita, I gave you no comments and so anything you and the Daily Prophet write about me is slander, and I'll treat it as such."

"How dare you?!" Rita snarled back, her pleasant façade completely vanishing as she just glared hatefully at Harry. "You think this will stop me?"

"Of course not, this was more of a polite warning, the only one you'll get. Stay away from me and mine and I'll do the same with you." Harry retorted, not exactly threatening her, though the meaning behind his words were obvious.

Rita glared at him as he said that, but said no more as she just turned and stormed out of the tent.

"I think you will come to regret that." Krum suddenly spoke up as he approached Harry, his accent still thick but understandable.

"She would have come after me even if I had complied. At least this way we both know where we stand. Besides I prefer to give people a warning, at least one, call it my code. Everyone gets one." Harry replied, his eyes for the slightest of moments flashing red before returning back to their usual warm emerald green colour.

A few minutes after this the tent flap opened once more, only this time it was Ludo Bagman, Barty Crouch, Madame Maxime, Karkaroff and Dumbledore that entered the tent. The five judges of the tournament, as well as the organisers.

As he entered the tent Ludo Bagman, The Ministries' Head of Games and Sports, could also noticeably be seen carrying a large silk bag.

"Are we all here? Excellent, excellent." Bagman spoke up cheerfully, the corpulent man's round face beaming as he looked around the tent. Not picking up on how tense at least three of the four Champions were.

"Enough Ludo, we're running behind time as it is." Barty suddenly interrupted tersely, a scowl on his face as he glanced at Bagman before looking at the four Champions. "Stick your hand in the bag to draw out your opponent, your task will be to retrieve the golden egg."

"Yes, yes of course, now ladies first." Bagman responded his smile fading slightly but not disappearing as he then offered the small bag to Fleur. Who upon seeing this apprehensively put her hand in it, before she drew out a tiny model of a green dragon with the number 'two' tied around its neck.

Fleur's face going paler than before as she stared down at the miniature figurine of a Common Welsh Green in her hand, Madame Maxime placing a hand comfortingly on her shoulder as she did so

Krum was the next one to go, drawing out the Chinese Fireball as he did so, his scowl growing fiercer as he glared down at the miniature beast even as the red dragon in his hand snarled back at him. The small figurine noticeably having the number 'three' tied around its neck.

After Krum, Cedric then went to draw out his opponent, the Swedish Short Snout which had the number 'one' around its neck. Unlike the others though, he had no prior warning of what he would be facing, which is why upon seeing it he seemed to go slightly green. A look of terror flitting across his face as he stared down at the snarling dragon in the palm of his hand.

Harry rolled his eyes as he saw this. After all he knew what the last dragon would be, the Hungarian Horntail, the one it appeared he was fated to face. Putting his hand into the bag, Harry then grabbed the last figurine, a particularly spiky one. Wondering as he did so, whether or not it might have been more useful if he had gone first and picked the Welsh Green, the easiest of the lot.

Still though it was too late now, and he wasn't about to try messing around with time again, not for something as small as this. Which is why with a slight sigh he withdrew his hand and inspected the small black dragon on the palm of his hand, one which had the number four around its neck. Which even as he looked at it, bared its minuscule fangs at him and spread out its wings, as if trying to be fearsome.

"Good! Now that all the Champions know which dragon they're going to be facing. I'll get on with explaining your task, which as Barty said before is to collect the golden egg!" Bagman spoke up again, his face filled with almost childlike glee as he did so. "Each of the dragons have a single golden egg in their nests along with some other fake eggs. Now the dragon will be doing its best to protect them and your task is to get the golden egg by using any means necessary, simple right? So any questions?"

A few moments later when no one looked to say anything, Bagman then clapped his hands together in satisfaction. "Great, now when the first cannon sounds Mr Diggory, you will walk through that door over there which will take you to the arena where you will face your dragon. Next is Miss Delacour, you'll go when the second cannon sounds, followed by Mr Krum on the third cannon blast and then finally Mr Potter."

All four of them nodded at that. Krum and Fleur looking quite grim, but also faintly confident. Cedric meanwhile looked ghostly white, and seemed to have started shaking uncontrollably. As for Harry, well he looked entirely unconcerned, neither confident nor unconfident as he instead just looked a little impatient.

"So, the task will begin in a couple of minutes so prepare yourself as best you can. Best of luck to all of you." Bagman then continued, before clapping Harry on the shoulder before he turned and exited the tent. The rest of the judges soon following, though Madame Maxime seemed to spare a moment to send Fleur a comforting glance.

Dumbledore meanwhile stayed long enough to send Cedric and Harry a concerned and speculative look respectively. A slight frown on his face as he saw the ease with which Harry seemed to be taking things, a great contrast to how he had appeared the last few weeks.

 **( - )**

In the stands surrounding a large arena, a plain space filled with jagged mounds of rock, Daphne was currently sat alongside several of her friends. As she did so she glanced around and noticed that the stands had already filled up, all five of them, four of which were for each of the Hogwart's Houses and the visitors from the others schools.

With the dozen or so Durmstrang students cramming into the Slytherin stands, whilst the Beauxbaton students had found seats in the Ravenclaw stands. The teachers themselves having filtered into mainly the Hufflepuff or Gryffindor stands, though Professor Snape had found himself a seat at the front of the Slytherin stands, a sneer on his face as he prepared to watch the 'festivities'.

As for the fifth stand, that was filled with people from outside of the school. Parents, reporters, ministry officials, anyone and everyone really, all of whom had bought tickets to watch the first task. Many of them of course were Purebloods, who due to their connections with the Ministry had been able to snap up tickets early. Though there were a number of foreign Wizards too, who had been able to get a seat through their own respective Ministries.

Sitting with her fellow Slytherins, Daphne could see that a number of them seemed to overjoyed, a couple of them, Malfoy included, going so far as to start betting on how long Potter would last before he died. It was in poor taste, but she wasn't about to say anything about it, nor did she get involved in it either.

For the most part though her House like the others just got into the spirit of the event as they cheered and shouted. Especially when they heard what the task would consist of. After all what was more exciting than seeing a wizard or witch trying to fight their way past a dragon?

Ignoring the commotion around her for a moment, Daphne instead curiously looked around to the other stands. Taking the time as she did so to analyse just what the other Houses were doing. After all she had heard that for the most part most of the members Hogwart's Houses were seemingly against Potter. Many of whom had been walking around sporting 'Support Cedric Diggory'/'Potter Stinks' badges, one of Malfoy's popular yet childish attempts at getting to the Gryffindor.

However a part of Daphne wondered whether the hate was truly there, or whether some of them did actually support Potter. Looking over she could see the entirety Hufflepuff supported in full their Champion, proven by the fact that they displayed large banners with Cedric's name and face on it, and were shouting out their support so loudly she was pretty sure they'd be able to hear it up at the castle.

Over in the Ravenclaw, she could see that there were a mixture of banners. They were of course predominantly in support of Cedric Diggory, though there were a few neutral ones which were supporting Hogwarts in general. On top of that she could see that only a minority of the Ravenclaws were wearing Draco's stupid badges.

Then finally there was Gryffindor. Over in their stands she could see one or two banners supporting Potter, but not many. In fact there was a visible contrast in how much support Cedric got from his House as oppose to Potter from his own, which was a little bit sad actually.

Not that she cared, she'd had one conversation with him. Sure he'd seemed interesting and quite amiable, but even so she wasn't about to start swooning over him because of it. It would take more than a boy being mildly interesting and pleasant to get her to do that.

Before she could think any more on the matter, Daphne was distracted by Tracey, who gestured to the side of the arena where she could see Ludo Bagman had just arrived. The Head of Magical Sports and Games casting a sonorous charm on himself as he did so, before he prepared to announce the first task. Much to the excitement of the spectators as a sudden hush fell over the stands, the anticipation building as they waited to hear exactly what the four Champions would be doing.

 **( - )**

Over in the Ravenclaw stands, sitting beside a couple of her friends, Cho Chang let out a shout of excitement as she saw Ludo Bagman about to start his explanation of the competition and what the task would consist of.

Seeing this Cho couldn't help but grin in excitement, sure the task sounded incredibly dangerous, yet at the same time it was also thrilling. The very idea of facing off with a dragon made her heart beat faster, and she was just watching it.

Beside her Cho couldn't help but frown as she heard her friend, Marietta, shouting out her support for Cedric. That's not to say Cho herself didn't support Cedric, because she did, but at the same time she also supported Hogwarts's other Champion, Harry Potter. Which was a feeling not many in her House shared, as for the most part they were beginning to get a bit pissed off with how much attention the Boy-Who-Lived received, and how many rules he could get away with breaking.

Cho of course could see their point, she herself found it more than a little unfair. Then again unlike the a lot of the members of her House she knew it wasn't Harry's fault. He didn't exactly ask for all this attention, nor did he seem to bask in it, if anything he seemed a little too introverted in her opinion.

Which is why Cho had decided to cut him some slack, and encouraged a lot of her friends to do the same. After all both Cedric and Harry were representing Hogwarts, which meant that both of them deserved their full support. Despite that though some, like Marietta, had not been able to let go of their resentment, which had left the House a little divided on the matter.

Cho of course also had a more personal reason for supporting both Cedric and Harry. After all the three of them were all Seekers on their House's Quidditch Team, and had flown against each other several times. Such competition, for Cho at least, formed a bit of a bond. One of friendly rivalry, and comradeship. Plus the fact they were both easy on the eye was a bonus.

With Cedric having those pretty boy good looks, and wavy hair. The stereotypical jock like figure Cho had seen in a few of those muggle films, except more realistic as he wasn't just good-looking and sporty he was also quite clever, or at least that was what she had heard. With the fact he'd been picked as Champion supporting that notion.

Harry meanwhile was one of those dark mysterious types. Sure he wasn't quite as good looking as Cedric, nor was he as physically fit. But he did have stunning emerald green eyes, a nice smile and an attractive air of mystery around him.

So for Cho she was quite happy to support both of them, especially since she was looking forward to how each of them would get about completing their task. After all it sounded like it would be pretty intense trying to steal a golden egg from a roosting dragon.

Either way by the sounds of it she was about to find out because a few minutes later after a brief explanation of what the Champions would be doing, a group of around a dozen wizards carefully brought the first dragon into the arena. Whilst a couple of others set up a large nest in the centre of the arena, which had visible stack of large blue coloured eggs and a single gold one in it.

The dragon in question, a Swedish Short Snout according to Bagman, was a massive beast. With pale blue scales running up and down its form and large curved horns jutting out of its forehead, its mouth looking more like a curved beak than anything as it hissed at the surrounding wizards.

Suffice to say the dragon cut a striking figure. Made even more impressive by the dragon's incredibly long, smooth and flexible tail that thrashed back and forth behind it like a whip.

With a loud roar the beast was finally let loose as the dragon keepers retreated to the sides of the ring and allowed the dragon free reign in the arena. With those in the stands being fully protected from harm by a complex series of wards that had been put up around them.

Watching the sleek yet deadly beast prowl around below her, Cho could feel her heart thumping faster. Especially when it let out a loud roar and shot a spout of indigo coloured flames out of its mouth and into the surrounding wards. All of which became visible, showing a large bubble like protection which encompassed the entire arena, which didn't waver for a second as it simply absorbed the full force of the dragon's flames.

All around her Cho could hear the crowd shrieking and shouting in delight, many of them clapping their hands and cheering at the sight.

Cho however was more focused on the entrance to the arena, because a few moments later the competition started, the boom of the cannon calling forward the first Champion, Cedric Diggory.

A few moments later Cedric entered the ring, the usually confident teen looking positively pasty as he stumbled through the entrance. His six foot form looking tiny in comparison to the thirty foot tall and seventy foot long dragon in front of him.

Shakily raising his wand, Cedric proceeded to then fire of a red coloured spell at the dragon. The jet of energy shooting from his wand and glancing harmlessly off of the dragon's scales as it shifted around. Not moving from its position over its nest, even though it hissed at Cedric again, before following this up with a jet of indigo fire.

Seeing this Cedric dived behind a nearby stack of rocks, avoiding the worst of it as the fire only singed his robes, the brunt of it only heating up the rock he was hiding behind, turning the rock a cherry red colour after less than half a minute.

In the stands the reactions to this was a number of 'Ooos' and 'ahhs'.

A few moments later found Cedric on the move again as he dashed from behind his cover and cast a new spell. This time conjuring a small flock of birds which shot towards the dragon as a distraction, whilst Cedric dashed closer to it, trying to get to the golden egg or to move to some cover closer to the nest.

For the most part his plan worked, as the dragon shifted its attention onto the oncoming birds, releasing another blast of fire and incinerating them as it did so. Unfortunately though Cedric forgot to take account of the dragon's tail, which suddenly swung around and slammed into the ground. Shattering the rock outcropping he had tried to hide behind and causing him to scramble backwards, his clothing and face covered in bloody scrapes from the jagged fragments of rock that hit him.

Cho as she saw this couldn't help but wince, especially as she heard a number of girls screaming. One or two of the ones nearby were actually in tears, and that was in the Ravenclaw stands. She could imagine the reactions were a lot worse in the Hufflepuff stands.

Ignoring the screams though, Cho instead focused on what was going on in the arena, tuning out everything, even Bagman's loud commentary as she instead watched as the beleaguered Cedric scramble to his feet. Only to have to dive behind another pile of rocks as indigo fire shot out again, this blast so close that it caused his robes to catch on fire and the flesh on the right side of his body to go red, and blister. A loud scream of pain erupting from Cedric's mouth as this happened.

Once again the reactions of the Hogwarts students were profound as some expressed their shock in shouts and screams, whilst others, like Cho, watched on transfixed and unable to look away. All thoughts of jealously leaving the thoughts of those watching as they realised just how dangerous this competition was, and that was for a seventh year yet alone for a fourth year.

Standing up Cedric managed to try one more attempt for the egg as he transfigured a nearby rock into deer. The transfiguration being only partially successful as the deer still had distinctly rock like colouring as it sprang forwards. No doubt the pain from his wounds were impacting on Cedric's concentration, meaning that intent based magic like Transfiguration was far harder than it normally would be.

Diving out from behind his rock, Cedric staggered towards the nest. Trusting in the deer to sufficiently distract the dragon. It was a gamble, a very brave one, one which would make even Godric Gryffindor proud, even if it would make Salazar Slytherin face palm. Unfortunately though it didn't work as a moment later the dragon's tail swished through the air, shattering the stone deer even as the dragon let loose another stream of indigo fire.

This one hitting Cedric point blank, shredding his hastily conjured shield as it did so, the sheer force of it sending him flying backwards, his body smouldering as he landed a dozen feet from where he had previously been.

A few moments later the ready and prepared dragon keepers flooded into the arena. One of them, holding up his wand and shielding Cedric's body from further harm, something he had started doing the moment the dragon had destroyed the deer construct. The wizard's quick actions no doubt saving Cedric's life, even if it had only warded off the worst of the fire's effects.

"Ohh, that was so close!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out, heard even above the shouts and screams of the crowd. "Fortunately the boy's still alive, though it looks like he'll be feeling it in the morning. Unfortunately though he was not able to collect his egg and so has failed the first task and will receive no points for it!"

Cho winced as she heard that, her eyes fixed on the two dozen wizards and witches now flooding the arena. Most of them subduing the dragon using a variety of spells to force it to pass out, more than a dozen wizards having to work in perfect synchrony to do such a thing. Meanwhile another witch and wizard were around Cedric's still smoking body, one of them putting the boy's body in stasis as the other levitated him and began to move him towards the medical tent, where an anxious and angry looking Madam Pomphrey could be seen waiting impatiently.

"Well anyway, once the dragon keepers have moved the Swedish Short Snout back to her enclosure we can get out the next dragon and get underway!" Ludo Bagman's voice echoed out again, gaining less cheers this time as a number of the students couldn't help looking as Cedric's body was rushed into the Medical Tent. The sudden seriousness and danger of the tournament becoming apparent to many of them.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? I always thought the Tri-Wizard tournament could have had a bit more danger to it. I also never particularly like the way dragons were represented, as I thought they should have been a bit more powerful and dangerous than I feel they were represented.**

 **Either way I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and leave a comment or a review.**

 **Thanks for Reading.**

 **Greed720.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So here is the next chapter I hope you all enjoy it. It took me a while to write this one but I quite like it all the same. I hope you all enjoy it too and leave a review at the end.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _Ohh, that was so close!" Ludo Bagman's voice boomed out, heard even above the shouts and screams of the crowd. "Fortunately the boy's still alive, though it looks like he'll be feeling it in the morning. Unfortunately though he was not able to collect his egg and so has failed the first task and will receive no points for it!"_

 _Cho winced as she heard that, her eyes fixed on the two dozen wizards and witches now flooding the arena. Most of them subduing the dragon using a variety of spells to force it to pass out, more than a dozen wizards having to work in perfect synchrony to do such a thing. Meanwhile another witch and wizard were around Cedric's still smoking body, one of them putting the boy's body in stasis as the other levitated him and began to move him towards the medical tent, where an anxious and angry looking Madam Pomphrey could be seen waiting impatiently._

 _"_ _Well anyway, once the dragon keepers have moved the Swedish Short Snout back to her enclosure we can get out the next dragon and get underway!" Ludo Bagman's voice echoed out again, gaining less cheers this time as a number of the students couldn't help looking as Cedric's body was rushed into the Medical Tent. The sudden seriousness and danger of the tournament becoming apparent to many of them._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 4**

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry, in the Champion's Tent)**

Letting out a sigh of boredom, Harry put both of his hands on his head and leaned backwards in his chair, kicking his legs out as he did so.

Shutting his eyes, Harry then just listened as he heard the roar of the crowd as Bagman loudly explained what the next task and what they would be face. Much to the spectator's pleasure, as Harry could hear them going wild.

After the cheering had quietened down a bit, Bagman then introduced the first Champion, Cedric, officially starting off the first task of the Tri-Wizard tournament. Leading to the very pale Cedric leaving the tent to face off against his dragon, the Swedish Short Snout.

Whilst Harry merely listened on in interest, paying attention to Bagman's commentary as he gave a blow by blow account about what was happening. Causing Harry to internally wincing as he heard the loud shriek and screams coming from the crowd, when the Hufflepuff took a nasty hit. Listening in Harry immediately knew Cedric was not doing well, still the fact that he was trying to put up a fight at least showed that the boy was brave, even if he wasn't all that sensible.

Opening his eyes as he heard another chorus of screams and cries of shock, followed by the roar of the Swedish Short Snout, Harry assessed the other two people in the tent, Krum and Fleur. A part of him curious about how they were holding up, because last time around he'd been so wrapped up in his own impending doom that he hadn't noticed whether the others were just as stressed and nervous as he'd been.

Looking around Harry instantly noticed that Fleur had begun to visibly tremble, the French Veela having taken a seat like Harry. Only she was leaning forward, her hands clenching the arms of the seat in a white knuckled grip as she kept sending the exit to the tent nervous glances. Flinching every time the dragon roared or the crowd screamed.

Krum meanwhile was looking as calm as ever, though whether or not that was a façade Harry wasn't sure. After all the only thing he could see of Krum was his profile as he leant against one of the tent's poles and seemingly checked his nails.

To Harry it looked too nonchalant, but then again Harry didn't really know the Bulgarian, so he was unable to tell whether he was pretending or not. After all as a Quidditch star Krum was likely used to stress and pressure, then again trying to compare a Quidditch match to facing off with a dragon, was like comparing a House Elf to a troll. There wasn't much comparison.

Looking away from Krum, Harry once again closed his eyes as he heard Bagman's booming voice once again sound out over the near deafening noise of the snarling dragon and watching crowd, an impressive feat in and of its self.

 _"_ _Ohh, that was so close! Fortunately the boy's still alive, though it looks like he'll be feeling it in the morning. Unfortunately though he was not able to collect his egg and so has failed the first task and will receive no points for it!"_

"Well looks like Diggory's gone 'Hufflefluffed' it." Harry commented, idly surprised that Cedric didn't even manage to finish the task this time. Pushing that aside for now, Harry instead opened his eyes and looked over to the haughty French girl. "Looks like it's your turn."

Fleur paled as she heard that, but also seemed to gain a bit of fire as she saw the amusement in Harry's gaze.

"No, not at all. Maybe you should be the one worried little boy?" The Veela suddenly said in accented English.

"Me worried? I would need to be unsure of my imminent victory to be worried, and that's just not the case. Though then again maybe again that's because I'm not likely to surrender the first chance I get." Harry replied back cheerfully, a smile on his face as he saw the sour look she sent him at the comment.

"Ha, it is because she's French, I get this joke." Krum suddenly spoke up a slight smile on his face, as he saw the sour look Fleur was sending Harry.

Fleur huffed in response to this, before she got up and glared down at Harry. When she got a smile in response though, she just huffed again, before she turned and stormed away once the cannon blast sounded, her fear overridden by outrage.

"Good! Use that anger, vent it on the dragon!" Harry called after her, a slight grin on his face. It looked like Fleur was as easy to rile up as he remembered. Not that they had known each other well, but they had met a number of times over the years, and each time Harry would manage to piss her off in some way. Which would only fuel her anger the next time she went to fight.

Harry didn't get a response to that comment, though he did hear the crowd cheering as she stepped outside into the arena, followed by an even louder cheer from the crowd, and the loud roar from the Welsh Green, a more placid dragon compared to the other three, though still dangerous if riled up.

Glancing around the rest of the tent, Harry once again tried to work out what was going on by the sound he could hear. To start with he could hear the cheers from the crowd, though they sounded slightly muted compared to before. Which might have been due to Diggory's catastrophic failure.

After that he could then hear the deep growl from the dragon, followed by what seemed to be singing. A soft, sweet lyrical music sounding out, dulled by the canvas walls of the tent, but still vaguely audible.

Hearing it Harry smiled slightly, assuming as he did so that the French Veela was using a vocal enchantment. Which was basically done by pushing your magic into your voice and then using the vibrations from the sound, and the lulling quality of the music to cast an auditory illusion, manipulating your targets senses and the chemistry of their brain.

It was a tricky piece of magic, but it was a damn effective one if cast correctly.

Feeling his eyelids grow heavy, Harry guessed she was casting a sleeping enchantment. Not that this surprised Harry, after all Veela had a natural disposition towards this type of magic, due to their passive aura, or allure. The only problem with this technique though, was that it required a certain amount of time to become fully effective, which meant that for battle it was not all that useful.

Shrugging off the passive effects of the magic, Harry instead listened in once more. Noting as he did so, that the noise of the crowd had dulled, no doubt a partial effect of the magic she was using. Eventually the roars of the dragon also grew faint, as it too succumbed to sleep.

However what happened next was quite amusing, as a round of laughter suddenly followed, caused by what Harry knew to be the dragon snoring fire over her, burning her robes before she could get her egg and complete the task. Fleur apparently completing this task as easily as she had previously, even if it involved having her skirt set on fire.

 _"_ _And Miss Fleur Delacour has gotten passed her dragon in just twenty seven minutes, using a well woven sleeping charm to do so. A good performance, and one that I think the judges will appreciate!"_

Bagman's voice boomed out again, causing another cheer from the crowd. Louder than before, as Fleur victory somewhat eclipsed Cedric's loss.

"She did good." Krum grunted as he finally pushed away from the tent pole and moved into the centre of the tent, his wand in hand as he readied himself for his turn.

"She did alright and used her time to prepare well. She was just lucky she picked the most placid of the dragons, I doubt any of the other three would have just sat around and allowed her to do that." Harry commented, not holding back in his judgement. After all Welsh Greens were well known for being quiet and introverted, very rarely interacting with humans as they instead kept to themselves. So not at all like the loud and outspoken Welsh humans, not that Harry was complaining as they were a barrel of laughs back in the day.

"Still." Krum replied.

"Yeah, she did well, now it's your turn." Harry allowed, before he shot Krum a grin.

"I am confident." Krum commented gruffly, not looking at Harry now as he instead stared at the tent flap.

About five minutes later there was another loud boom as Krum was called to the arena to face his dragon, the Chinese Fireball, a very serpentine dragon, and one which was capable of excreting a flammable gel from its scales, which allowed it to set itself on fire at will.

For Harry this dragon was the second most dangerous in the tournament, after the Hungarian Horntail of course. Mainly because it was neither as big nor as aggressive as the Horntail, plus it lacked the venomous spines and teeth, as well that the range of its fire was half of that of the dragon Harry would be facing. Not that Harry was competitive or anything, it was just that his dragon was the toughest one.

"Potter." Krum grunted before he turned and marched out of the tent.

Harry nodded in response.

 **( - )**

 **(With Daphne)**

"Come on when is the next match starting?" Tracey complained as she stood up and looked over to the entrance of the arena.

"It'll be starting in a minute Tracey, they just have to bring the new dragon in." Blaise replied, rolling his eyes as he did so. The girl could be so impatient sometimes.

"I don't get why you're getting so antsy about it?" Daphne commented as she too looked into the arena. Watching as a group of two dozen wizards took the now fully stunned Welsh Green out of the arena and to its enclosure deeper within the Forbidden Forest.

"It's because that last fight was boring." Tracey complained, getting an amused glance from Blaise as she did so. "Especially compared to Diggory."

"Is that because Diggory got hurt?" Daphne asked, thinking back on the way Cedric had not only failed to finish the task, but had also had to be stretchered off covered in burns.

"No," Tracey replied, a shocked look on her face. "That'd be just mean. No, I just found his fight more interesting, all the French Champion did was sing."

"It was a sleep enchantment, a pretty powerful one actually." Daphne replied, somewhat sticking up for the other Veela. Plus she was quite impressed with what she had done. In fact it was something that she herself knew, was not something she would be able to easily replicate, not right now anyway.

"You're telling me, I mean did you see how fast the first three rows all fell asleep." Tracey giggled, a smile on her face as she remembered how embarrassed and put out they had been when they awoke to find the match over.

"All but Snape." Blaise commented as he looked over to the other two.

"That's because he used Occlumency to block out the girl's enchantment." Daphne replied easily, knowing as she did that the three Headmasters/mistress and Barty Crouch had done the same. With Bagman being the only one of the judges to nearly fall asleep, much to his embarrassment.

"Yeah, but even so it was boring, all she did was crouch behind some rocks and sing. The dragon only really tried to attack her at the end, and even then it was a bit shit." Tracey complained loudly, a few of the other Slytherins around them nodding as they heard her comment.

Daphne rolled her eyes at that, "Well what did you expect? It was a Welsh Green."

"Ooh, they brought in the new one!" Tracey suddenly cheered as she stood up, gaining the attention of the others as she did so.

Looking down at the arena, Daphne soon found what had caused Tracey's excitement. The next dragon, the Chinese Fireball was being brought in, and just looking at it Daphne could say she was impressed.

The dragon was very long and looked a lot more serpentine than the other two dragons, with the Fireball being nearly sixty feet long, with a thin compact body. On top of that the dragon didn't have any legs, though it did have clawed arms and a pair of short wings protruding from its back.

Half slithering and half crawling into the arena, the dragon let out a huge bellowing roar, golden coloured fire springing forth from its jaws as it did so. Twisting round the dragon then tried to use its long body to snap at some of the surrounding wizards, only to find that they had already retreated behind the protection.

Letting out another roar, the dragon instead turned towards the nest, its yellow eyes gleaming as it moved towards it. Revealing its face to the crowd, with the face in question looking quite squashed compared to the Welsh Green, which looked a lot more like a dragon was supposed to look. This one though looked a bit stranger, as it had a beard of red spikes and large spines protruding from its brow.

"Damn that's one ugly dragon!" Blaise commented, his face scrunched up as he saw the dragon crawl to the nest, before it snaked around it, protectively surrounding the eggs with its long serpentine body. "I kind of feel sorry for whoever's facing it."

"Looks like its Krum." Tracey replied as she heard the cannon sound out, and saw the slouched over Bulgarian enter the arena. The crowd erupting as he did so, the professional Quidditch player getting the biggest cheer so far as he walked into the arena and glared at the dragon.

"Let's see how he does, I've heard that Durmstrang covers lesser Dark Magic alongside the other usual subjects. It'll be interesting to see what he can do." Daphne commented, quite interested to see what the older teen would come up with. After all her own repertoire of spells was quite decent, bolstered as it was by the Greengrass Family library, but she would still be interested in seeing what he could do. Maybe even learn something from it.

Almost from the moment Bagman shouted go, Krum was on the move. Darting forwards quickly and sending out a jet of orange magic from his wand as he did so. The spell catching the dragon by surprise as it struck it in the eyes, causing it to let out a loud roar of outrage, before it followed this up with a stream of golden coloured fire, which struck the spot Krum had previously been standing. With the Bulgarian having already moved, sprinting off and dodging behind some nearby cover mere moments after launching his initially attack.

Instantly Daphne realised that Krum was a lot more prepared for the task than Cedric had been. The spell had been aimed at the dragon's eyes, its weak spot, which not only showed his aim but also his knowledge. On top of that he'd also predicted the dragon's response and had reacted accordingly. It was an impressive, if aggressive start to the task.

The rest of the crowd seemed to think so too as they erupted into cheers at the sight.

Darting out from behind his cover, Krum then sent off an explosive hex. The blast of magic shooting passed the dragon and striking a craggy area behind it, exploding on impact and showering the blinded dragon in shards of stone.

Twisting around the dragon responded by releasing a jet of golden flame, which it then followed up by unleashing a devastating tail swipe, its body partially uncoiling from around the nest and lashing out at the area Krum had blasted with magic. As it did this though it also swept it over the area Krum actually was, forcing the Bulgarian Champion to blow a hole in the ground just ahead of him, which he then dived into, to avoid the sweeping tail.

Letting out another roar the dragon then released yet another spray of fire, bathing a twenty metre area of the arena in fire as it sought to burn its attacker alive.

Seeing this Krum leapt out of his hole and darted forward again, sending another exploding hex flying past the dragon, not even trying to hit it as he lacked the brute magical force, or knowledge of the type of spells that would be required to break through a living, breathing dragon's hide.

Twisting around again the dragon released another blast of fire, roaring its outrage as it did so and leaving an opening for Krum to rush forward and grab the golden egg. The Bulgarian showing a surprising amount of speed and athleticism as he hit the floor and rolled, knocking the egg from the perch but not quite managing to hold on to it, the egg instead just lying on the ground several feet from the fake ones.

Not that Krum went back for it, not immediately at least, as he instead scrambled for cover as the dragon somehow sensed his presence in the nest and twisted around. Its nostrils flaring as it tried to sniff the intruder out.

Peeking out from behind his cover Krum sent off another blast of magic, the same exploding hex as before, not even bothering to fight the dragon head on, not with a pissed of magical creature like this. Isn't wasn't categorised as an XXXXX level magical creature for no reason after all.

Turning to the sound of the noise as before and releasing another maelstrom of fiery death, Krum waited a few moments before he turned and ran, grabbing the golden egg as he did so. Unfortunately for Krum though the dragon by then had seemingly learned from its mistake, because as it turned to the noise, it also lashed out behind it with its tail.

The massive muscled limb striking the ground and shattering it as it did so, before it swept along the ground. Clipping Krum in the side as he tried to run, the blow sending Krum flying off of his feet and smashing into the ground twelve or so feet away. A gasp of pain leaving Krum's mouth as he somehow managed to keep a hold of his prize, despite the slight blow from the dragon having shattered his shoulder and broken a half dozen of his ribs.

Moments later the dragon handlers once again swamped the arena as they released a volley of some twenty stunner at the beast, the entire arena flashing red as the barrage hit the raging dragon. The force of the multitude of spells sending the dragon crashing to the ground, but not quite robbing it of consciousness as it used its two arms to push itself up, setting its entire body on fire as it did so. Another volley of stunning spells put an end to that though as the dragon handlers once again set about containing the dragon, using dozens of water charms to extinguish its flames and more stunners to keep it sedated.

Whilst this was happening, two medics had gone to Krum. One of them stunning him, whilst the others petrified him so he wouldn't cause any more damage to his mangled body. The pair of medics then went about levitating Krum and taking him over to the pissed off looking Madam Pomphrey, who looked less than impressed with the type of task Dumbledore and the judges had chosen.

"And Mr Krum gets the golden egg, and in an impressive time of twenty five minutes!" Bagman's loud voice boomed out as the crowd surged to their feet and let loose cheers and shouts as the dragon was removed from the arena, along with the now blissfully unconscious Krum, who was still clutching the golden egg to him.

"He took a pretty nasty knock there are the end, but seems to have come out alive and with the best time so far!" Bagman continued, almost jumping up and down in excitement as he did so. "Now we'll get to see how Mr Potter will deal with his dragon, the fearsome and terrifying Hungarian Horntail!"

"That was pretty impressive." Blaise said lightly, a slight smile on his face as he saw the now pacified dragon being removed from the arena.

"It was a more aggressive approach than the other two." Daphne commented, her brow furrowed as she too looked down at the arena. "But it was very risky."

"He still managed to pull it off though." Tracey replied enthusiastically, before she turned to Daphne. "Do you reckon he'd be willing to give me an autograph if I asked?"

Daphne looked amused as she heard that, before she rolled her eyes. "It's always worth asking."

"You might want to wait until his bones have been fixed though." Blaise added on dryly.

Tracey grinned at that.

"So Potter is the next one up, and he's facing a Hungarian Horntail." Daphne suddenly spoke up, catching the attention of the other two.

"Is that a bad dragon to get?" Tracey asked curiously.

"It certainly isn't a good one, they tend to be very aggressive and very deadly." Daphne replied, before she shifted in her seat as she saw the group of wizards were bringing the dragon in question into the arena. "And it looks like you're about to see it."

Tracey twisted around as she heard that, before she instantly took a sharp intake of breath.

Not that this surprised Daphne as the dragon they were looking at was huge. About fifty feet long and standing nearly forty foot tall, the Horntail was a veritable mass of dark black scales. It had the look of a more traditional wyvern like dragon. With it having huge clawed legs, a long, black scaled tail and vast wings with a greyish membrane, which also acted as the dragon's arms.

The most intimidating thing about the dragon was not it size though, no, it was the fact it was covered from the tip of its tail to the crest of its head in fiercely sharp looking, venomous spikes. Its tail looking like some massive, crude mace and it head holding a crown of jagged spikes, some of which were as tall as a full grown man.

A few minutes later, the dragon handlers quickly retreated behind the protection. None of them sticking around for long as the Horntail was unleashed. The creature in question letting out a devastating roar which caused the stands to shake, before it followed this up with a stream of fire from its mouth, the blast of flames being far more intense than the other three dragons fire as it shot out across the arena. The flame tinged with hints of blue as it covered everything it could in fire, the dragon's yellow eyes gleaming viciously as it then twisted around and sent another blast of fire in the other direction.

"Well," Tracey began, her voice coming out a bit feebly. "It looks like Potter's dead."

"He had a good run," Blaise added in, attempting to act nonchalantly, though the slight bead of sweat running down his forehead gave him away.

"Maybe." Daphne muttered a frown on her face, before she took her violet eyes off of the dragon and instead looked to the other stands. Noticing as she did, that the realisation of just what Potter would be facing had settled in on some of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses. "We'll have to wait and see what he'll do."

"Really?" Tracey asked in surprise. "I mean you do know that that who Boy-Who-Lived thing was a fluke don't you? The guy's not at all exceptional, he's just an average fourth year, who's about to be eaten by a dragon."

"I wonder about that." Daphne muttered, before she pushed her silvery blonde hair behind her shoulder and leaned forward in her seat. Not expanding on her statement as she heard the cannon suddenly sound off, and a hush descend upon the crowd.

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry)**

"Looks like it's finally time." Harry muttered to himself as he stood up, rolling his right shoulder as he did so and gripping his Holly and Phoenix feather wand in his hand. A part of him lamenting that he wasn't able to use his Elder one, after all he had wielding that wand for decades now, it was far more familiar to him than his old Holly one was.

Unfortunately though it was also the same wand Albus Dumbledore was currently welding, and was quite distinctive looking. Meaning that if Harry was to waltz out onto a public stage like this one and use it, well, it may lead to some very awkward questions being asked. Ones which Harry had no intentions of sharing.

A few seconds later the cannon sounded out for the fourth time, and Ludo Bagman's voice rang out once more.

 _"_ _And now we have the last Champion, Harry Potter, who will pit his magic and skill against the ferocious and formidable Hungarian Horntail!"_

Harry rolled his eyes as he heard that, even the dragon had a better introduction than him.

Still though, Harry proceeded to exit the tent and enter the arena, ignoring the dazzling sun shine that nearly blinded him after his two hour stint of waiting in the tent as he did so.

Upon emerging from the tent, Harry was also beset by the roar of the crowd, with surprisingly the vast majority of the crowd cheering him on, though there were a few boos as well. Mostly coming from the Slytherin and Hufflepuff stands, though not as many as he had expected.

Raising his hand Harry gave a single wave and a dashing smile to the crowd before he turned his focus onto the ruddy great dragon in the front of him. The giant beast snapping and snarling as it crouched protectively over a nest of blackish dragon eggs, with a single golden one glinting on the top of the pile.

"Hello beastie." Harry muttered, the fingers of his left hand twitching, even as he raised his wand, ready to leap into action at any moment.

"And now let the last round, of the first task begin!" Bagman boomed out, his magically enhanced voice echoing around the arena.

Unfortunately though this had the negative effect of also startling the pissed of momma dragon in the centre of the arena, spurring it on to open its cavernous mouth and spew a torrent of blue tinged flames at Harry. A great cone of fire shooting out at him, spreading out as it did so until a veritable wall of potent dragon fire, nearly thirty feet wide rushed towards him.

"Well shit." Harry muttered as he saw the trigger happy dragon's reaction, ignoring the chorus of screams he could hear from the crowd as he instead whipped his wand up in a single smooth motion. Smiling as he felt the warmth of his magic rushing through him, as the ground ast his feet responded to it, rising up in a large dome like wall in front of Harry.

A perfect shield for Harry to hide behind as he took a step forward and allowed the wall of fire to flood past him.

After it died out though, he once again leapt into action, slashing his wand through the air, causing his shield to explode forward, as a dozen sharp shards of rock hurtled towards the dragon. Following this up though Harry then jabbed his wand forwards in a single thrust, transfiguring the rock into metal as he did so.

The hurtling rock like spires swiftly turning into steel spears in mid-flight, which then proceeded to pepper the dragon's head. Eleven of the spears clattering harmlessly off of the beast scales, none of them able to pierce the dragon's tough hide. The twelfth spear though managed to glance the dragon in the its right eye, slicing through its piercing yellow orb and turning it into a blood ruin.

Unsurprisingly this made the dragon flinch backwards in response to the sudden lancing pain and partial blindness, a deafening roar of rage and pain issuing forth from its jaws.

Taking advantage of the dragon's reaction, Harry then took another step forward, swinging his wand out again, the end of it glowing red as he then proceeded to weave through a number of complicated looking wand motions, leaving behind a red trail of magic as he did so.

In response to this the earth around the dragon reacted to his spell. As more than two dozen thick, metal chains erupted from the earth, the heavy, black barbed chains striking like snakes as Harry directed them, like a conductor might an orchestra.

One of the chains lashing around the dragon's snout as four others wrapped around its wings, the rest proceeded to bind the dragon's legs, tail and body. The metal links making a grating sound as the barbs scraped against the dragons thick scales.

In response to this, cheers of surprise and exclamations of shock rose forth from the crowd, not that Harry paid them any mind though.

Instead Harry whipped his wand to the side and thrust his hand forward. The palm of his left hand striking against the glowing red rune he had drawn in the air previously, whilst wielding his wand to transfigure the trains. The Norse rune for 'bind' flashing golden as Harry's palm struck it, the rune then moulding itself to Harry's forearm in response, even as glowing golden symbols appeared on the very single link of the multitude of black chains.

This was spellbinding, a nifty little trick Harry had mastered. One which allowed him to bind a spell in place with a rune, which could then be used to shape and control said spell, the rune acting not just as an anchor, but also as a focus for the magic. Meaning that Harry could control and manipulate the spell with his left hand, whilst leaving his right hand, his wand hand, free to cast another spell.

It was Harry's way of compensating for his inability to master spell chaining. A technique both Voldemort and Dumbledore excelled at, the skill allowing them to chain nearly a half dozen spells together in simple fluid wand motions. Harry meanwhile had never been able to chain more than three spells together. Which is why he had learned and alternative, spellbinding, instead, an esoteric rune based technique, and an incredibly deadly one if used right.

Gritting his teeth as he felt the slight pull on his magic, Harry then twisting his rune covered left arm around, and clenching his hand into a fist. The action causing the chains around the dragon to suddenly let out another grating sound as they twisted and tightened, several of them shifting around and pinning the beast in place.

Ignoring the deep thrumming anger he could feel coming from the dragon and the groan coming from a number of the chains as the dragon continued to struggle, bringing its colossal strength to bare as the thick, black chains began to strain, several of the links already cracking or near breaking point.

Seeing this Harry once again swept his wand up and round, manipulating the earth once more as he did so, causing two huge fists of rock to erupt from either side of the dragon. Each of the fists slamming on either side of the Horntail's head with a loud crunching sound. The impact from this breaking a few scales and cracking some of the dragon's spikes, but not causing any serious damage.

Then again that was not Harry's intention, as he instead flicked his wand again, bringing his left hand down as he did so to ensure the dragon remained bound. In response to this the rock fists both merged together, forming a three, foot thick rock helmet that covered the dragons head and most of its neck, cutting off its air supply as it did so.

Frowning in concentration Harry then took a knee and flicked the tip of his wand against the ground. The reason behind the action soon becoming apparent as the rocky ground quickly gained the consistency of water. Which meant that within moments the dragon's colossal weight dragged it down. Harry's chains helping in the process as he forcibly submerged the bound dragon under the now watery earth, its rock bound head sinking faster than the rest of it.

Soon after that, when the dragon had completely disappeared from view, Harry once again tapped his wand onto the ground. His eyes flashing, before he once again transfigured the consistency of the ground, turning back to its previous solid state. The dragon now entombed within.

Releasing his control of the chains, the golden runes now fading Harry's left forearm, Harry then slammed his left hand into the ground, channelling magic through it as he did so, causing the ground around his hand to indent as a circle filled with some complicated runes in it etched its way into the ground. The circling glowing golden as it did so, before its effect became apparent as Harry transmuted the earth from rock to iron.

"Well, that worked." Harry muttered as he then stood up, a slight smile splitting his face as he heard the roar of the crowd. His green eyes twinkling as he looked around and saw that all of the stands were now cheering, even the Hufflepuff and Slytherin ones. Their previous animosity momentarily forgotten as they saw the performance he had put on.

Grinning at that, Harry then jogged towards the nest, running over the now iron plain in front of him. Ignoring the flood of dragon keepers who ran into the arena to save their dragon as he did so. Harry's attention instead on the nest as he waltzed over to it and grabbed the golden egg.

After which he then turned to the stands and thrust it triumphantly into the air. The crowd once again erupting into cheers in response to his action.

"And Mr Potter gets the egg, and in the fastest time yet of eighteen minutes! What an upset, the youngest Champion now leads the pack!" Bagman's voice boomed out, the man practically jumping up and down as he continued his commentary. Mostly just describing the transfiguration aspects of Harry's match, to the crowd, taking great pleasure in extolling the virtues of his performance as he did so.

 **( - )**

 **(With Cho)**

"Holy shit did you just see that!?" Michael Corner suddenly shouted, his voice almost getting lost in the cheers and clamour of the crowd.

Cho though, who at the time had been on her feet cheering along with the rest of her House, had heard. Which is why as the crowd quieted down as the victorious Harry Potter was ushered to the medical tent by a number of angry dragon keepers who were attempting to free the Horntail, she decided to answer.

Turning to the boy next to her, Cho sent him a large grin. "He kicked arse is what he did!"

Michael rolled his eyes as he heard that. "Yeah I get that much, I'm just trying to work out what he actually did."

"Transfiguration mostly, simple but effective." Marietta sniffed out, a slightly disgruntled expression on her face at how Harry had so clearly outclassed the other Hogwart's Champion.

"Not all of it was transfiguration though." Lisa Crawford, another girl in Cho's year corrected. The curly, brown haired girl sending Marietta a dismissive look before she turned to Michael and explained what she had seen. "Potter used a technique called spellbinding. It's not often used as it is pretty tricky to learn, but Potter obviously has a knack for it."

"Yeah I've heard of that. It's all based on drawing runes in the air with magic and binding spells to them isn't it?" Cho spoke up, her dark eyes once again on Harry her lips curved up in a smile. "I wonder where he learned how to do it?"

"There are a couple of books about it in the restricted section of the library, Potter probably read those. I mean you've heard how much he wanders around the school at night, he probably found some way to sneak into the library." Lisa replied, not sounding that bothered about Harry's rule breaking.

"Well good for him, he definitely crushed this task!" Cho replied enthusiastically.

"But if he broke into the restricted section of the library, then he broke the rules, he should be punished!" Marietta replied scandalised that no one else was reprimanding the misbehaving Gryffindor for his actions.

"Yeah but he wasn't caught, so who cares?" Cho replied with a shrug and a quick smile.

Lisa rolled her eyes in response to that. "Of course you wouldn't care."

"Well getting in trouble is part of what makes school fun." Cho replied with another quick smile.

"Cho!" Marietta exclaimed.

"Oh leave her alone you silly cow." Lisa sighed out, already sick and tired of Marietta. Sometimes she wasn't sure why Cho and herself still hung out with their year mate, though that might be because the three of them were the only fifth year girls in Ravenclaw.

Cho rolled her eyes in response to that as she heard Marietta huff, her gaze instead going down to the cheekily grinning Harry Potter as he cheerfully waltzed into the medical tent. Seeing this Cho couldn't help but smile fondly.

 **( - )**

 **(With Daphne)**

There was an intense look on Daphne's face as she watched Potter leave the arena. The performance he had just given was impressive to say the least, far beyond what was expected of a fully trained adult wizard, let alone a fourteen year old.

Looking back at the arena once the cheerfully smiling Harry left, Daphne instead watched as the dragon keepers tried to extricate the Hungarian Horntail. A number of them having to use gouging spells to get to the dragon, all of them working feverishly to free the beast before it suffocated.

When the match had started none of them had thought this was how it would go. In fact there were some who thought he wouldn't have lasted ten seconds. With Draco Malfoy having put ten galleons on it, money that he was about to lose as well as the other fifty he'd put on Potter failing in the first task. An expensive day for the foolish boy, then again only morons gambled that much money on something that wasn't a certainty.

"That was impressive." Daphne muttered, her gaze not leaving the wizards it the arena as they still struggled to get through the now metallic ground, the iron somehow resisting their attempts to transfigure it as they instead had to excavate the ground. Fortunately though the dragon was trapped only five or so metres below the ground, so through the combined effort of the handlers they were managing to get to it in a timely manner.

"Impressive? That was insane!" Tracey replied, her voice a little more high pitched than usual. "I mean did you know Potter was capable of that?!"

"Of exactly that? No." Daphne replied, her lips curving upwards as she did so. "Though I had assumed he was stronger than average, after all you heard the rumour of the fight with the troll and his duel with Quirrel in first year? As well as how he slayed Slytherin's Monster in our second year?"

"Yeah, but they were just rumours, unsubstantiated ones too. Like those bullshit story books that are written about him!" Tracey exclaimed.

"Well obviously there was at least some truth to the rumours." Blaise replied, an intense expression on his face. "What do you think Daph?"

Daphne smiled as she heard that. "I think Potter's suddenly gotten a lot more interesting."

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what did you all think? I hope you liked it and leave a review.**

 **Personally for me one of the things that irritated me the most about the canon books were how few characters were developed throughout the seven books. Don't get me wrong I can understand they didn't want to introduce too many characters and that JK filled out some of the details later on in Pottermore. But for me I think some of the other Hogwarts students should have been developed in greater details, especially ones that ended up in pairings. Hopefully though in my story I will do a good job with my characters, both the good ones, the bad ones and the average ones.**

 ** ** **Other than that I hope you enjoyed the story.******

 ** ** **Hopefully update soon.******

 ** ** **Greed720.******


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Here is the next chapter of the story, and damn but this one was a difficult one to write. I almost gave up on it once or twice, but in the ended I managed to preserve.**

 **Hope you all enjoy the chapter, and leave a review at the end.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _Impressive? That was insane!" Tracey replied, her voice a little more high pitched than usual. "I mean did you know Potter was capable of that?!"_

 _"_ _Of exactly that? No." Daphne replied, her lips curving upwards as she did so. "Though I had assumed he was stronger than average, after all you heard the rumour of the fight with the troll and his duel with Quirrel in first year? As well as how he slayed Slytherin's Monster in our second year?"_

 _"_ _Yeah, but they were just rumours, unsubstantiated ones too. Like those bullshit story books that are written about him!" Tracey exclaimed._

 _"_ _Well obviously there was at least some truth to the rumours." Blaise replied, an intense expression on his face. "What do you think Daph?"_

 _Daphne smiled as she heard that. "I think Potter's suddenly gotten a lot more interesting."_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 5**

 **( - )**

 **(In the Medical Tent)**

It had been a few minutes after Harry had been shooed out of the arena so the dragon keepers could free the Hungarian Horntail, that he nonchalantly entered the medical tent, dropping his prize, the golden egg, on his designated bed as he did so.

Looking round the tent there was a resigned expression on his face as he simply turned around sat down on the bed, next to the golden egg, so he could wait for Madam Pomfrey, the school's nurse to corner him like he knew she would.

Not that he felt bad or anything, hell he'd just fought a dragon and come away without a scratch. Even more surprisingly than that, he wasn't feeling that tired either, which considering the amount of magic he was throwing around surprised even him. With Harry knowing form past experience that using magic like he had should have at least tired him out a little.

Still though, whether he was injured or not, he was just experienced enough to know that he wouldn't be escaping the overbearing presence of Madam Pomfrey, despite him being perfectly fine, and he was perfectly fine. In fact he would actually say he was better than fine, already his transition into this body was showing its benefits as the malnourishment this form previously suffered from was fixed up. Harry's presence in this body bringing it back to optimum health, on top of that there was the fact that the older Harry's magic was many times stronger and more controlled than the younger Harry's had been in the past. All in all this body was likely in better shape than it had ever been in before.

Before he could think any more on that though, Harry was instead distracted by the plump and mothering Poppy Pomfrey finally getting round to him, bustling over form the beds the other Champions were on as she focused on him.

Looking over Harry could see that there was a concerned expression on her face as she approached him, her wand was out and her greying hair was in complete disarray. Clearly the older woman had been a bit harried, no doubt the stress of the tournament and the injuries caused by the dragons were getting to her.

"Hey Madam Pomfrey, how's tricks?" Harry asked cheerfully as he swung his legs back and forth, an unconcerned expression on his face as Poppy bustled over to him and began to run her wand up and down her body, muttering incantations as she did a few preliminary test.

He wasn't about to kick up a fuss about it and make things even harder for her. After all the woman was only doing this because she cared, and because she wanted to help people. Only a dick would make life harder for someone who was trying to help them, no strings attached.

"Mr Potter, I can't believe I'm say this, but it does in fact look like you've managed not to injure yourself!" Poppy finally replied as she finished her initial examinations, not finding so much as a scratch on him as she did so. Which considering how accident prone he had been over the last three years was a miracle in and of itself.

"Hey, I take offence to that." Harry replied cheerfully, an amused expression on her face as he saw the look of disbelief on her face, clearly he had already made somewhat of an impression on the woman. Even if it was because he had spent the majority of his time at Hogwarts in and out of the Hospital Wing.

"Considering how often you find yourself in the Hospital Wing I'm not sure why." Poppy replied dryly, before a slight frown passed across her face. "That was an impressive display of magic out there Mr Potter, far beyond what's normally expected from a student."

"Is that a compliment I hear?" Harry queried, a cheeky smile on his face. Though he was happy for the recognition, even if it was somewhat hollow considering he was much older and much more experienced than a normal student.

Poppy cocked an eyebrow as heard his response, somewhat surprised by his easy-going nature, it was a great contrast to how moody and insular he usually was, coupled by the fact he hadn't tried to escape her yet, was a surprise in and of itself.

"No, but I am concerned. Using that much powerful magic at once, could potentially have put an incredible strain on your body. With your permission I would like to use some diagnostic spell on your magic?" Poppy asked, after all it was seen as rude to try and analyse another Wizard or Witches magic with diagnostic spells without permission. Of course there were exemptions to this, such as if the Witch or Wizard wasn't conscious at the time, or if they were in prison or in custody.

"Go for it." Harry replied with a shrug, a part of him genuinely curious whether the transition into his past version of his body had had any unique effects on his magic, the entire thing after all was unchartered territory. Plus he was feeling remarkably well rested, despite having just subdued a full grown dragon.

Poppy nodded at that, pleased that he had given his consent. The last time she'd done this in his second year it had taken her a lot longer to persuade him of the necessity, after all who knew what mischief having two magical compounds in one's blood would do. Fortunately for the boy though the Basilisk Venom and the Phoenix Tear in his bloodstream were in perfect harmony and had cancelled one another out, meaning that they had neither a positive or negative effect on his magic.

Weaving her wand through a number of complicated wand motions, Poppy quickly got to work, ignoring the presence of Dumbledore as he entered the tent, followed by McGonagall, Bagman, Mad-Eye Moody, and Karkaroff and Maxine both of whom went to their respective Champions as soon as they entered the tent. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Bagman meanwhile moved over to where Harry and Madam Pomfrey were.

Mad-Eye Moody however lurked near the entrance to the tent, both his magical eye and his non-magical eye fixed on Harry, a thoroughly suspicious look on his face. Something that Harry noticed, though didn't dwell on for the moment, as he instead looked over at the other three walking towards him.

Ludo Bagman of course was the first one in the newly arrived group to speak, an exuberant expression on his face as he bounced towards Harry, clearly intending to shake his hand, though he obviously thought better of the action though when he saw the sudden harsh gleam in Madam Pomfrey's eyes as she turned to look at him.

"An outstanding display, Mr. Potter, truly remarkable. Indeed I can't say I've ever seen such a thing in my life and I..." Bagman began blathering, his cheerful disposition not changing as he snubbed the other two Champions present in favour of Harry. The large corpulent man going a bit over the top in his praise of Harry, ignorant of the irritated expression both Krum and Fleur were sending the judge.

Before he could continue though Bagman was interrupted by Dumbledore, whose mere presence seemed to quell Bagman's enthusiasm as he took a step forward and looked down at Harry, a strange look in his eyes as he looked down at the teen.

There was a mixture of pride, shame, regret, happiness, suspicion, worry and many other emotions that Harry couldn't identify in Dumbledore's gaze as he met Harry's green eyes with his blue ones. Meeting his gaze steadily Harry couldn't help but regret his lack of skill when it came to Legilimency or the art of reading people. The two of them were things he had never really excelled at, putting up a façade and using Occlumency though, those were things he could do, and do well.

Fortunately for Harry though, although he couldn't tell exactly what Dumbledore was feeling or thinking at the moment, Harry already knew the man, or at least he knew him as well as most did. As such he knew the man was a powerful Wizard, but also a fallible man.

Dumbledore was a man who tended to mean well, and had decent intentions and a kind heart, he was just a bit too manipulative for his own good. More than that though he often allowed his pride to get in the way, which led to him ignoring the suggestions of others or thinking himself right when a millions others wouldn't. For the most part though Harry could trust in the fact that Dumbledore tended to think the best of people, and would trust people until he was proven wrong.

"Harry, my boy. That was quite a display you put on for us. Quite a display indeed, I would very much like to know how you learned to do such magic?" Dumbledore asked, his voice kindly and warm, even if there was a slight note of concern in it, clearly the man was troubled.

"Study of course, sir." Harry replied swiftly, meeting Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes with his own green.

"Study?" Dumbledore said pleasantly, the question implied.

"Well a teenagers got to do something in his spare time, and since I didn't have any porn on hand, I decided to read a few books." Harry replied bluntly, his smile not wavering as he heard a couple of the adults around him cough or shift about awkwardly.

"Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall gasped out.

"Now, now Minerva, Harry has a point he is a teenage boy and what he spoke of is perfectly natural." Dumbledore replied, a hint of amusement in his voice as he saw the scandalised expression on McGonagall's face. "Though I am curious about where you got these books? Spellbinding is a very complicated and esoteric art, as too is combat Alchemy, which I believe you used to transmute the ground to iron… Both of these arts are rare and very difficult…?"

"Alas you've caught me!" Harry replied dramatically, lifting his hands up in faux surrender as he did so. "I might have taken a few trips to the restricted section of the library, though in fairness to myself I had a lot of time on my hands due to the whole, 'other House's isolating me' thing. So I needed something to do, plus I found I have a natural affinity for it, what more can I say?"

"I see." Dumbledore replied, a slight frown on his face as he suspected Harry wasn't telling him the whole story, no doubt he picked up the honesty in Harry words. But he also likely knew Harry was holding back, which he obviously was. "Well I'm afraid I'll have to take some House points off you for doing that Harry."

"Of course sir, I understand." Harry replied calmly, the faintest of smiles still on his face.

"Yes, well due to your circumstances I'll be lenient and only remove twenty points from Gryffindor." Dumbledore replied, his gaze still slightly cautious as he looked at Harry, his eyes searching as they trailed form Harry's faded scar to this amused green eyes and confident posture. Dumbledore's brow furrowing in slight confusion as he tried to work out what had happened to the boy he thought he knew.

"Perfectly reasonable." Harry replied with a nod, before he was distracted by a sharp intake of breath next to him. "Oh, have you finished Madam Pomfrey?"

"Well yes, yes I have, but the results, well the results are very strange, dare I say impossible!" Poppy replied a frown on her face as she looked at Harry curiously.

"What is it Poppy? Is it anything to be concern about?" Professor McGonagall asked worriedly as she looked between her old friend and her student.

Poppy didn't answer at first, as she instead summoned over a scroll of parchment from a nearby table, after which she muttered a few incantations, ink beginning to appear on the parchment only to shift into writing as Poppy transferred the results she had got from her diagnosis of Harry's magic onto parchment, which she would then usually duplicate, with one going to her personal records and one going to the student.

In response to this Harry reached out and took the parchment when Pomfrey handed it over, a curious expression on his face as he read over the results. His green eyes sharpening as he did so, before he looked over at Poppy, his expression breaking from its pleasant façade for a single moment as he looked suspiciously at her, before the look vanished as swiftly as it had come and was once again replaced with a smile.

"Thanks for that Madam Pomfrey, I take it this will be kept under that whole patient-healer confidentiality thing?" Harry asked, his question coming out kind, though there was a note of resolve in it that made it clear this was more than a simple request.

"Of course." Madam Pomfrey replied, not sure just why he wanted to keep it quiet, but respecting his request anyway. She was under a duty to do so anyway, one which she had sworn a magical oath to follow.

"Good." Harry said pleasantly, his smile returning as he looked around the tent, noticing how Madam Maxine was with Fleur, and Karkaroff was with Krum. As for Bagman he had since retreated from the tent after giving Harry his congratulation, no doubt going to join Crouch at the judges table.

Noticeably absent from the tent however, was the other Hogwart's Champion, Cedric. Seeing this Harry then looked over at Madam Pomfrey curiously. "By the way, where's Diggory?"

"I'm afraid Mr Diggory's injuries were unfortunately too serious for me to deal with alone, so he was quickly sent to St Mungo's soon after he is task was finished." The Medi Witch let out a sigh as she said that, a sad expression on her face as she looked over to Dumbledore and McGonagall, "I'm afraid he will have permanent scarring at the least, if anything he's lucky to be alive! Though considering some imbecile thought it would be a good idea to bring in dragons…." Poppy continued, descending into a grumble as she gave Harry one more once over before she made her way to the slightly injured Krum and Fleur so she could give them both one more once over.

Dumbledore let out a sad sigh as he heard the condition of his student, he had petitioned against the dragons being brought in, but unfortunately he had been out voted on the matter. Taking his mind off that for the moment though, the old man then looked back to Harry, focusing back on the matter at hand.

"Harry, my boy, if there is a problem, as your Headmaster I will need to know." Dumbledore spoke up as he saw Poppy retreating, not falling for Harry's attempt at changing the topic.

"Well you can be rest assured that I am fighting fit and raring to go, if anything I'm healthier than ever." Harry replied bluntly, clearly ending this topic as he crumpled the parchment up and shoved it in his pocket.

"I see." Dumbledore replied somewhat disappointed. Still he wasn't about to push the issue, no, he didn't want to potentially ruin their student teacher relationship over something as trivial as this. Plus he knew for a fact that if there was a problem, that Poppy would tell him, her oath as a Healer allowed her that much wiggle room.

"Well I'll leave you to your recovery." Dumbledore then said, putting his suspicions on the back burner for now as he saw the other judges had left the tent.

Before the Headmaster went though, he paused long enough to pull out a small piece of parchment from one of the expanded pockets of his robes, which he then used his wand to sign. "Before I go though, this is a signed form that will allow you to use the restricted section of the library for the remainder of the tournament."

Harry blinked in surprise as he heard that, though he did smile a bit as he took the proffered parchment and met the old man's gaze. "Thanks Professor."

"Not at all my boy, though I would like to say that this comes with a lot of trust. I hope you use it wisely and don't abuse it." Dumbledore then replied, looking over his half-moon spectacles and down at Harry as he did so.

"Would I?" Harry asked a friendly smile on his face, though he did get the gist of Dumbledore's words. He was trusting Harry, and he was asking for Harry to trust him, obviously the old man hadn't bought all of Harry's bullshit, not that Harry particularly cared, the old man and his games meant very little to him in the grand scheme of things.

"I hope not." Dumbledore replied quietly, before he turned and left the tent.

Professor McGonagall made to follow, before she did though she turned and graced Harry with a thin smile. "Congratulations on the completing the task Mister Potter, that was a very impressive display of transfiguration, it seems you've been holding back in lessons?"

"Something I will endeavour not to do again." Harry replied with a shrug, allowing the teacher to make her own conclusions.

"Let's hope so." McGonagall replied, smiling fondly at Harry as she did so. "Your father was an incredibly talented student of Transfiguration, and it would seem you inherited that talent. I would hate to see you squander it."

With that Harry's Head of House left the tent, leaving Harry alone with Fleur, Krum, Madam Pomfrey and the lurking Mad-Eye Moody.

"Potter." Moody grunted as he saw the others had left, the current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher limping over to Harry as he did so, his magical eye fixed warily on the centre of Harry's chest. "What are you up to?"

"Up to Professor?" Harry asked coolly, even if internally he was getting worried, he hadn't taken into account the fact that Moody's magical eye could see thorough things, hopefully though the imposter in front of him didn't know the eye full capabilities or at least didn't know how to properly control them yet.

Moody limped closer, pausing when he was right in front of Harry, his real eyes narrowed as his tongue darted nervously out of his mouth, his magical eye still fixed on a single point on Harry's chest.

Harry tensed as he saw this, his finger twitching as he hoped to whip out his wand, internally cursing gone again that he didn't have his Elder Wand to hand. Still he was ready, and he was confident that he could crush this false Moody with ease.

"Didn't anyone tell you Potter, you weren't allowed to take any magical artefacts into the arena with you?" Moody muttered his voice low. "Next time you try and cheat, remember to be a bit more subtle!"

Harry let out a breath at that, relieved that the fake Moody though he just had some magical talisman or something on as oppose to the truth. "Does that mean I'm in trouble Professor?"

Moody let out a bark of laughter at that before he stood up, and amused look on his disfigured face. "Not with me boy, you can trust me to keep it quiet, next time though, next time try and be a bit subtler."

"Of course sir." Harry replied, his gaze on Moody as he saw him limp away. Once the imposter had left the tent, Harry then looked around the now much quieter tent.

As he did so Harry sent the still pale faced Fleur a saucy wink, the slightest of grins passing across his face as he allowed his relief over the false Moody's mistake to shine through. "From what I heard you did a good job out there Fleur, it looks like I'll have a lot of competition if I want to win this tournament."

Fleur smiled weakly at that, but didn't respond. Krum however let out a snort of laughter, before he sent Harry a slight grin.

"You have balls Potter, I will give you that much. Facing you will be more interesting than I thought." Krum said abruptly, his amusement clear in his voice. "It seems in the end Hogwarts only actually had one Champion!"

"Oh Viktor you flirt!" Harry replied, waving Krum away with a grin.

Krum rolled his eyes at that, shrugging the response of as 'British humour'.

Fleur meanwhile let out a slight snort, her features returning to normal as she began to calm down a little, focusing on the byplay between Krum and Potter as she did so. "Do you ever take anything seriously Potter?"

"Only when my life or the life of a loved one is in danger." Harry replied honestly with a shrug. "But for the most part no, life is too exciting to take it seriously all the time."

"You are not what I expected." Fleur replied softly, a frown marring her flawless face as she digested what he just said.

"What am I not the 'little boy' you thought I was?" Harry asked amused. "Have I now graduated to big boy in your mind?"

Fleur's lips quirked at that. "You have a lot of confidence, though I would not call you a big boy, not without any visible evidence at least."

Krum let out a loud cough at that, stifling a slight laugh as he did so.

"Oh you naughty minx." Harry replied with a grin, surprised by how well he was getting along with the other two Champions. The last time around he had been so nervous he barely spoke to them, but now he seemed to be building somewhat of a rapport with them.

A few minutes later the three of them descended into idle chitchat as they waited for Poppy to release them. During this idle time, Harry began to ponder on the results of Madam Pomfrey's spell.

From what he ha understood Harry's magic it appeared, had become stronger, exponentially so. Which for Harry was somewhat confusing as when he had previously transitioned into new bodies, which he had done once or twice before, back during the war, his magic tended to overwhelm the host. In this case however, due to their similarities he had absorbed the host body's magic and that in itself had heightened the potency of his own magic. Or at least that was what Harry had hypothesised, this phenomenon after all wasn't something he had experience with.

Not that Harry wasn't happy with this development, if anything he was pretty pleased about this unexpected benefit of the transition. Raw magical power after all had never been his forte, sure he was stronger than the average Witch or Wizard, but he tended to rely on skill and strategy to win battles, not overwhelming power.

He had never been like Dumbledore or Voldemort, once in a generation Wizards who naturally wielded massive amounts of magic power, and had an aptitude for magic far beyond that of normal Wizards and Witches. No, Harry was little more than a stronger than average Wizard, with a devious mind and a lot of skill and experience. He had the aptitude for magic, especially Runes, Transfiguration and Alchemy, but he just lacked the raw power to back it up. Now though, with this unexpected turnout it looked like he might be on his way to becoming on a par with the likes of Dumbledore and Voldemort.

Before Harry could think any more on this though, he was distracted by a loud voice shouting out his name, followed by the entrance to the tent being thrown open as two very familiar people rushed in.

At the sight of them, Harry very nearly grimaced. He knew that he would have to meet them sooner or later, he had just been hoping to put it off as long as he possibly could.

 **( - )**

"HARRY!" Hermione Granger shouted as she ran towards Harry, her bushy brown hair flying about behind her as she rushed into the tent, ignoring the fact that it was restricted to only the Champions and tournament officials. Following closely behind Hermione was Ron Weasley, a tall lanky boy with a mop of ginger hair and an overabundance of freckles littering his face.

Scowling at the two of them as they burst into the tent, many different response flowed through Harry's mind. From him pulling his wand on them and blasting their heads off with an exploding hex, to him liquefying the ground under their feet and literally burying them six feet under.

In the end though, Harry merely went with a somewhat neutral response. "Piss off!"

That stopped both of them in their tracks, the two of them looking taken a back for a few moments. Clearly neither of them having expected this kind of response from him, which for Harry was strange considering the way they had been treating him over the past few weeks; like an attention seeking liar, who had betrayed them by purposefully entered the tournament.

"Harry, mate, what are you...?" Ron spoke up, a slight frown on his face as he looked at Harry, somewhat shocked his 'best friend' would say something like that to him, and so venomously too.

"Let me rephrase that, can you both kindly fuck off!" Harry replied bluntly, noticing as he did so that both Krum and Fleur had gone silent as they instead just watched the tense standoff.

"Mr Potter, please mind your language." Madam Pomfrey suddenly spoke up as she bustled over, a slight frown on her face as she saw what was going on. "And you two, this tent is for Champions and tournament officials only, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Poppy then continued as she looked down on the still startled Ron and Hermione.

"But we just wanted to visit Harry and congratulate him on the task!" Hermione replied as she took her shocked eyes off of Harry and instead looked to Madam Pomfrey.

"I don't think Mr Potter is really in the mood for visitors at the moment." Poppy replied dryly as she then started to usher the two Gryffindors out of the tent.

"Nah, he's just being a grouchy git. Give him a few minutes and he'll cheer up!" Ron added on as he looked over at Harry. "Hey Harry mate, I just kind of wanted to apologise for the whole thing with the goblet. I should have believed you, but I was just… you know, just a little angry, you know how it is?"

"Really?" Harry asked dryly, almost mockingly. "You think that's good enough?"

"Harry?!" Hermione exclaimed, shocked by his response. "Ron's trying to apologise, it's only right you accept it."

"Yeah mate, stop being a dick and then we can all be mates again, like we used to yeah?" Ron added on, a half smile on his face as he once again tried to make nice with Harry.

"Again fuck off both of you. I don't like you, nor will I ever want to be friends with either of you. You kind of burned that bridge long ago." Harry retorted, relying on his Occlumency to keep his raging emotions under control as he tried to refrain from lashing out furiously at the pair.

Reminding himself as he did so that the two of them were idiot children, and that their future selves, the ones he hated, he'd killed going on twenty years ago. Still though it was hard not reconciling the two teens in front of him with the people he knew they grew up to be. "So as far as I'm concerned, the best thing for everyone involved would be if you two kindly fuck off and never come near me again!"

Ron and Hermione were completely taken aback as they heard that, not at all sure what the hell was happening. The Harry they knew, their friend of nearly four years, had never been like that. Sure they had made a mistake, and their friendship had probably suffered for it, but for him to be this unreasonably angry and hateful, it was nothing like the Harry they knew.

"Harry…" Hermione tried again, only to be cut off as Harry looked away from them.

"Just go Hermione, you too Ron. I think it would be best going forward if we were not longer friends." Harry replied, his tone now mild as he then looked back at the two of them, his anger now completely under control. The slight lapse he had had at the sight of them, now supressed.

"You prick!" Ron snapped out as he heard that, his face going bright red now with both anger and embarrassment. "You arrogant fucking prick! We came in here to apologise and make nice, but if you're going to act like a tosser, well fuck you then, you're on your own!"

With that said Ron turned and stormed away, his face still red as he left the tent and headed back to the castle. No doubt bad mouthing Harry as he did so, the youngest Wesley son always did have a lot of insecurities and anger issues.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted after Ron, only to be ignored. After that she turned to look at Harry, a disappointed expression on her face. "You shouldn't have rejected him like that, he said he was sorry and he meant it."

"Yeah, you can piss off too Hermione." Harry replied bluntly.

Hermione scowled at that, but wasn't able to say anymore as by then Madam Pomfrey had gotten irritated with the goings on and had started to usher her out of the tent.

Seeing this Hermione sent Harry one more disappointed look before she too turned and flounced away.

Harry let out a sigh as he saw her disappear. He hadn't thought seeing them would have been unpleasant as it had been, he had thought he'd gotten closure when he had killed the pair of them. Obviously though he hadn't moved on as much as he thought he had, even now a part of him wanted to finish them both off here and now before they could cause him any more trouble in the future.

Fortunately though common sense prevailed, and he managed to put a cap on those murderous thoughts, after all Dumbledore didn't get his reputation for no reason, and even now Harry knew he would not stand much of a chance in a duel with the old man, certainly not without ritually enhancing his body and having time to prepare beforehand.

There was also the fact that the Ron and Hermione of this time were innocent of the crimes they would one day commit. This put Harry in somewhat of a moral quandary, after all if he killed them then he would stop them from growing up to be the people he despised. However at the moment they were innocent, and Harry for all his moral failings had not quite crossed the line in which he would murder innocent children.

It was a difficult choice, and one Harry was happy to set to one side for now. After all he hadn't gone back in time to kill old enemies, nor had he come back to fight Voldemort. No he had come back to have a second chance at life with his loved ones.

Inevitably he would likely have to fight to protect that life, but for now, for now he would focus on his primary objective. That being said though, he might also get a bit of petty vengeance here and there.

"Well that was very awkward. Are those your friends?" Krum suddenly spoke up, gaining Harry's attention as he looked over at the amused looking Bulgarian.

"They were, we had a bit of a falling though." Harry replied with a slight smile.

"A bit of a falling out?" Fleur asked a bemused expression on her face.

"Yeah, we drifted apart. I suppose their reaction to my name being pulled out of the goblet was the final nail in the coffin." Harry replied with a shrug as he got off his hospital bed.

"They didn't believe that you did not enter yourself?" Fleur queried curiously.

Harry shrugged in response. "Very few people did, I would have thought my friends at least would have?"

"Obviously they were not real friends then." Fleur replied bluntly.

Harry shrugged at that. "And what about you two, do you think I put my name in the Goblet of Fire?"

"I don't know you well enough to comment." Fleur replied with a shrug, giving a bit of a non-answer as she easily skirted around the question.

"Innocent until proved guilty." Krum said bluntly.

Harry smile slightly at that, not really sure how he should reply. Before he could say anything else though, he was distracted by Professor McGonagall once again entering the tent, this time with a slight smile on her face as she looked at Harry.

Harry cocked an eyebrow as he saw that. "You're smiling? I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing?"

McGonagall rolled her eyes at that, "Well Mr Potter, if you don't want to know what you scored on the task then I could just leave?"

Harry grinned as he heard that. "Oh come on Professor don't be a tease."

McGonagall looked amused as she heard that, it was a cheeky response, one which she would have expected from Sirius Black and James Potter. Hearing it from James's son brought some fond, nostalgic memories to the surface. "You scored well overall Mr Potter. Professor Dumbledore gave you a ten, Mr Crouch gave you a nine, Mr Bagman gave you a ten and Madam Maxine gave you a ten."

Hearing that Harry was pleasantly surprised, it was much higher score than he had thought it might be. That being said he was curious about what Karkaroff had scored him.

"And Karkaroff?" Harry asked, expecting the worst.

"Headmaster Karkaroff gave you a seven." McGonagall replied, "Overall it is the best score so far, forty six out of fifty, and puts you in first place going forwards."

Harry hummed as he heard that, quite pleased with the score. Who knows maybe he'd go ahead and win this tournament, he might as well. After all he didn't have much else to do this year.

 **( - )**

 **(A few minutes later)**

Exiting the tent a few minutes later, Harry didn't join the rest of the crowds heading to the castle. No, by doing that he knew he would likely be surrounded by people in moments, all of them asking questions and generally annoying him. Which is why Harry instead took a few paces and then paused, a slight smile on his face as he instead called for Dobby.

A sudden cracking sound later announced the arrival of Dobby, not the one of this timeline though, but the Dobby that had come to the past with Harry. That being said Harry was quite curious about how the two versions of Dobby past and future would interact. For now though he instead focused on his diminutive servant.

"I hear congratulations are in order." Dobby said mildly as he looked up at Harry.

"What can I say, the task was easier than I thought it would be." Harry shrugged in response, a cheerful expression on his face.

"Well it was intended for seventeen year olds, you're several times that old." Dobby replied sarcastically.

Harry laughed at that. "Yeah I suppose. By the way, can you give me a lift back to the castle, I have things I need to do. Preferably the seventh floor."

Dobby nodded at that, before he reached out and grabbed Harry's hand. A few moments later and with a loud crack the House Elf then disappeared with Harry in toe, his House Elf magic easily allowing him and his passenger to pass through the wards and reappear on the seventh floor of Hogwarts, right in front of a blank piece of wall, with a tapestry of dancing trolls opposite it.

"The room of requirement?" Harry asked as he looked down at the Elf.

"This is where you were planning on going wasn't it?" Dobby replied as he released Harry's hand.

Harry nodded at that, before he approached the wall and then activated it, walking back and forth three times as he kept in mind what he wanted the room to turn into.

A few moments later a door appeared on the stretch of wall, one which Harry swiftly entered, Dobby in toe. Upon entering the room the two of them were soon confronted by a cavernous space, one which filled to the rafters with mounds of junk.

"You're going after the Diadem?" Dobby asked curiously as he looked out over the room of hidden things.

"Well I did say I would do my part in stopping Voldemort." Harry replied as he stepped into the room and began to weave through the mounds of junk. His Holly wand in hand as he kept a wary eye out for anything untoward. "That being said I have another reason for being here."

"Oh?" Dobby questioned.

Harry grinned at that, before he turned and looked down at the House Elf. "Tell me Dobby, you like cleaning and tidying don't you?"

"Yes…" The House Elf replied warily.

"Well whilst I am at Hogwarts I have a task for you. Or I suppose another task for you seeing as you are still tracking down the ingredients for the strengthening rituals." Harry replied as he spotted the tarnished tiara he was looking for, the Diadem of Ravenclaw, a priceless enchanted artefact that Voldemort had corrupted when he had turned it into one of his Horcruxes.

"I have raided Snape's stores, Hagrid's hut and the Herbology greenhouses." Dobby replied. "I have found some of what we need, but there are still some items we'll need to buy."

"Once I get my hands on my Gringotts vault key we can see to that. For now though I want you to begin sorting through this room. Anything of value books, furniture, spare wands, anything you think will be useful, I want you to take it and begin transporting it to the Chamber of Secrets. I want you to go through this entire room and take every last thing of use from it, as for the rest either leave it or destroy it, whatever is easier." Harry said, pausing as he looked around the room. The last time around he had never had a chance to go through this room and check out what else it was hiding. This time though, this time his curiousity would not be assuaged until he had.

Dobby in response to this monumental task didn't look put out at all, instead he grinned happily at the thought of all the work he had ahead of him.

Glancing sideways at his friend, Harry rolled his eyes at his reaction, he would never understand House Elfs.

Pushing that though aside for now though, Harry instead flicked his wand up and pointed it at the Diadem. "Avada Kedavra!" He then intoned releasing a jet of green light which exploded forwards and struck the Diadem, a black mist exploding from the item with a wailing scream as he did so. The killing curse expelling the fragment of Voldemort's soul from the Diadem like It would a person's soul from their body.

Not that this bothered Harry as he instead slashed his wand through the air a few times, leaving a glowing trail in mid-air, after which he then slammed his left hand forwards palm first. In response to this a rune inscribed circle appeared in front of Harry, glowing bright red as he activated it.

Upon doings the now glowing red circle began to issue bolts of lightning, which shot out and struck the black mist before it could flee, causing red static to run through the mist as it was dragged screaming into the centre of the circle.

Twisting his hand in mid-air Harry watched as the black mist, which was a part of Voldemort's soul was completely trapped, bound in place and ripe for the taking.

Narrowing his eyes at that thought Harry then raised his wand with his right hand, his brow furrowed as he summoned a short gout of Fiendfyre, not enough that it required his full attention to control it, but enough that its golden flames struck the contained black mist, incinerating the fragment of Voldemort's soul in an instant.

"Well." Harry suddenly said as he cut off the flow of magic to the magic circle and sheathed his wand, ignoring the stench of dark magic in the air, this wasn't the first time he'd destroyed a Horcux after all. "I'm off to the party in the Gryffindor common room, have a good time cleaning up."

Dobby barely responded to that, as by that point he'd already got stuck in, ignoring Harry's light show as he instead began sorting through the first pile of junk that the students of Hogwarts had tried to hide over the centuries.

"Oh and before I forget, make sure you bring along the Diadem, without Voldemort's soul in it, it might be a handy little item to possess!"

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? I hope you enjoyed it?**

 **This chapter not doubt raises a lot of questions, specifically about Harry's origins, and about some of his abilities, and also his relationship with other people. Suffice to say these will all be answered as the story progresses.**

 **If anyone has any questions then please feel free to PM me and I'll get back to you.**

 **Also if you have some time try out some of the other stories I am writing, there is a pretty diverse range.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Greed720.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Hello all, I'd just like to thanks you all for all of the support you've give thus far, I really appreciate it. Unfortunately I've not been able to get round to answering all the reviews, but if you have anything you specifically want to ask please PM me and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Also if anyone have any good recommendations for Harry Potter or Percy Jackson stories I would love to hear them?**

 **Also for the record, I am afraid I am not accepting challenges at the moment, thanks for offering them though.**

 **Hope you all enjoy the story and leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _Twisting his hand in mid-air Harry watched as the black mist, which was a part of Voldemort's soul was completely trapped. Narrowing his eyes Harry then raised his wand with his right hand, his brow furrowed as he summoned a short gout of Fiendfyre, not enough that it required his full attention to control it, but enough that its golden flames struck the contained black mist, incinerating the fragment of Voldemort's soul in an instant._

 _"_ _Well." Harry suddenly said as he cut off the flow of magic to the magic circle and sheathed his wand. "I'm off to the Gryffindor party, have a good time cleaning up."_

 _Dobby barely responded to that, as by that point he'd already got stuck in, ignoring Harry' slight show as he instead began sorting through the first pile._

 _"_ _Oh and before I forget, make sure you bring along the Diadem, without Voldemort's soul in it, it might be a handy little item to possess!"_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 6**

 **( - )**

 **(At Hogwarts)**

 **The Boy Who Lived: The Second Coming of Merlin Or A Dark Lord in Training?**  
 _By Rita Skeeter_

 _In an unexpected turn of events, Harry Potter (age 12) managed to claim first place in the initial task of the Triwizard Tournament, beating both his fellow Hogwart's Champion as well as the two Champions from Beauxbaton Academy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute. The young Mister Potter, during his duel with the dragon was seen to have performed a number of highly complicated pieces of magic, magic which this reporter found out he learned after illegally breaking into the restricted section of the Hogwart's library (A part of the library that contains restricted and forbidden pieces of magic, and which his only open to those with express permission from teachers for research purposes)._

 _Of course when the boy's crimes came to light, the Headmaster only gave him a slap on the wrist and sent him on his way, Hogwart's victory obviously meaning more to the old man than obeying the rules, integrity and discipline. Though can we really be surprised that Dumbledore was so lenient, after all it has long been known at Hogwart's that Harry Potter often breaks the rules and is allowed to get away with it punishment free, just as he even breaks the law of the land and is shielded from repercussion by his bearded benefactor. He as of yet has not even been punished for illegally entering himself into the Triwizard Tournament._

 _The forms of magic the Boy-Who-Lived used are advanced Transfiguration, something that was likely learned from Headmaster Dumbledore in one on one training sessions, and Spellbinding, a very dark piece of magic that allows a Wizard to bind the magic of a spell in place with runes. This however is not the reason for why it is considered so dark, as the true reason is that through the use of Spellbinding it is suspected that people's wills and mind can be bound and shackled to the user, as can a Wizard's or Witch's magic be bound to their body, restricting it from use_

 _In fact such is the scope of this rarely used branch magic, that it is not taught in schools or magical colleges, and any further research into it is restricted as it hold such potential for abuse. It is for this reason why it is so surprising that Harry Potter, the vanquisher of the Dark Lord Voldemort would use it. In fact it also raises questions of whether the fame and adulation bestowed upon the Boy-Who-Lived has corrupted him and potentially led him down a Dark path._

 _Of course it should not just be immediately assumed that young Mister Potter is destined to be the next Dark Lord, or that he has begun to learn true Dark Magic. That being said this reporter has interviewed several Hogwarts students and has found that this is not the first time Mister Potter has been accused of such. In fact according to one Hufflepuff student, Ernie MacMillian, Potter was once suspected of attacking a number of muggleborn students in his second year at Hogwart's, the same year in which is became wildly known that he was a Parselmouth (A trait commonly thought of as belonging to only Dark Wizards). Furthermore no evidence was ever offered which vindicated Mister Potter, with the entire ordeal just being swept under the rug by Headmaster Dumbledore who once again protected his 'Golden Boy'._

 _"_ _Potter is totally insane, he just goes around attacking people at random and just gets away with it. Most of the students are scared of him, but we aren't able to do anything about it because the Headmaster is always protecting him." Draco Malfoy, a brave and upstanding Hogwart's student says, telling this shocked reporter the true story about the vaunted Boy Who Lived._

 _It seems that this Tournament might have made the youngest Champion even more unstable, as this reporter was able to find out that soon after defeating his dragon, the young Mister Potter cut off all ties with his former friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, and in fact cursed them out. All the while putting up a façade of false calm and kindness to others, could it be that all this time the young Gryffindor hero Headmaster Dumbledore portrays Harry Potter as, is little more than a mask worn by the true, darker, crueller Boy-Who-Lived?_

 _It certainly leaves a lot of questions unanswered surrounding Harry Potter, and makes one wonder is he what he truly seems, or is he a Dark Lord in the making?_

 **( - )**

The day after the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, all of Hogwarts seemed to be gossiping about Harry's victory. This was not of course helped by Rita Skeeter's recently published article, which by lunchtime the day after the task had been read by almost everyone in Hogwarts, student and teacher alike.

Of course Harry himself had also read it by then, after all for the moment he was still living in the Gryffindor House dorms, a temporary measure until he could make the Chamber of Secrets more habitable for him to move into, and when he said he, he meant Dobby.

He had previously been in the apprentice rooms, but he'd been cleared out of there pretty shariah by Dumbledore. The old man having come to the conclusion that too much space might not be good for Harry, especially if he was 'borrowing' books from the restricted section of the library. Which is why when Harry moved into the Chamber of Secrets full time, he'd have to ensure he had a nominal presence in the Gryffindor forms to avoid suspicion, or at least as much suspcion as he could now he was on the old man's radar.

Even so, he had soon found a copy of the paper in the Common Room lying on a side table. Suffice to say upon reading it he was pissed, he had after all overlooked the trouble Rita Skeeter could cause and how used to threats she probably was, after all the woman, through her articles had made an enemy of nearly the entirety of Britain's Wizarding elite. Just as he had forgotten about how annoying her Animagus ability could be sometimes. It was a foolish oversight, as Daphne had worked out how Skeeter was spying on people in their Fifth Year.

That being said the woman was a no body really, so he could somewhat forgive himself for forgetting about how troublesome she could sometimes be. Even so now he knew, he would be taking steps to neutralise her.

Of course the reaction of the rest of the school was somewhat more mixed, with some of the students nearly instantly believing that Harry was using dark magic, and became fearful of what else he had learned. These same people also once again began to wonder about the events of second year and the revelation that Harry Potter was a Parselmouth, it was something that had been somewhat forgotten, as too had the suspicion of Harry, as Dumbledore had instead just said the events and attackers were caused by an enchanted dark item.

Now the students were thinking back though, they could remember Dumbledore not specifically saying Harry wasn't responsible, only that a dark artefact had possessed a student and caused the trouble. Which thinking about it now could have meant that Harry himself could have been the possessed student, or he might have pretended to be possessed to throw the Headmaster off of his trail? Either way it raised question as some in the school began to ponder what they knew of the Boy Who Lived, and what the truth of the attacks actually was?

Still though, there were also many students, some Ravenclaws, most Gryffindor's and a few Slytherin's who merely scoffed when they read Rita Skeeter's article. With these students' either knowing Harry personally, or knowing enough about Skeeter's brand of tabloid journalism not to buy into it, not without looking into it more anyway.

Either way, the article and Harry's actions had proceeded to cause somewhat of a rift in the school as some fully supported Harry, whilst others were dead set against him and feared he was using dark magic. In fact a number of these students were Hufflepuffs, who after what happened to their Champion, Cedric Diggory, who was still in St Mungo's intensive care with severe burns, began to fear Harry had cursed him before he had faced his dragon.

 **( - )**

 **(In the Great Hall, with Daphne)**

Looking around the Great Hall speculatively, Daphne Greengrass quickly noticed how much of the commotion of last day had disappeared. With it instead being replaced by a sense of unease and tension, as people quietly whispered and mumbled to each other. Many of them holding copies of the Daily Prophet in their hands as they did so.

Glancing down her own table she could see a number of her fellow students were doing the same, though she was sure they were doing it for different reasons than the other students in the hall. After all most Slytherin's were ambitious opportunists by nature, it was why so many of their number had joined Voldemort when he had been at the height of his power, and why so many had instantly turned their back on him and claimed Imperious Curse when he had fallen.

Many Slytherin's when they found a powerful person, either magically, financially, politically or socially, would be more than happy to ride their coattails to the top. They were social chameleons really, able to adapt to any situation, changing certain ideologies and opinions to suit. In fact there were only really a small core of blood purists in Slytherin who actually believed wholeheartedly in the mantra that Pureblood were superior and that Mudblood's stole magic. For the most part the opinions and beliefs of the majority of the Slytherin's were rather more fluid.

It was for this reason that many of the Slytherin's were reading the paper and holding discussions. After all Harry Potter had just made a major spectacle, he had displayed a great deal of magical power and control when he had not just gotten past his dragon but had actually defeated it, nearly killing it, using a very esoteric branch of magic to do so.

More than that though he had also broken off his connection to his former friends' Granger and Weasley, which of course left the powerful young Wizard alone and as of yet unaffiliated to any existing faction. A wizard who had a lot of social and political influence thank to his fame, and a decent amount of capital due to his family fortune. A Wizard who also had the heritage of the Potter family, with familial connections to many other Noble Houses, and the ability to use Parseltongue.

For the Slytherin's this represented a great opportunity, after all Harry Potter was obviously a Wizard who could either become very great or very terrible. Which for them meant that with the right prompts, support, influence and manipulation that he could be used to propel them and their families to the very top of the Wizarding food chain. All that was needed was to work out how to influence him and how to take advantage of that.

There was of course a problem with that though, as the diehard blood purists opposed Potter both because of his status as a Halfblood and for defeating their figurehead, Lord Voldemort, as a baby. Which meant that moving to team up with Potter could potential backfire and gain the Slytherin who dared and failed to get into Potter's inner circle, a great deal of enmity from a small but powerful and aggressive faction, without any form of protection.

Daphne of course was no different, as she too had quickly realised the opportunities Potter embodied.

Narrowing her eyes at that thought, Daphne looked over to the Gryffindor table, hoping to spy out the teen she had only ever interacted properly with once. Recalling as she did so, every moment of Potter's task and how he had trapped and bound a dragon, before entombing it under the dirt, which he had then proceeded to transmute into iron.

It was a fearsome display, and one which even now she was somewhat in awe of. She remembered him telling her he was interested in Runes and Alchemy, but she had thought that was just idle talk, she'd never thought he would be as accomplished as he was.

In fact before yesterday Daphne had never thought he was anything special, and had instead always thought that it had been a fluke or a special ritual enacted by the Potters back in Halloween of nineteen eighty-one that allowed him to survive the Killing Curse and defeat the Dark Lord.

He had never shown any truly astounding talent in class, except for maybe in Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts, where he seemed to be more at ease. That being said he had also had some skill in Charms, nothing outstanding but she had noticed he was at least better than average.

But what Potter had done in the task was far beyond anything they had learned at Hogwarts so far, in fact she doubted any of that was taught in Hogwarts, save except for the mass transfiguration he cast when he created those metal chains, that might be covered in their NEWT year, though she wasn't sure. Either way his display certainly raised some questions. Was he really that powerful? Was he holding back in classes? Was he doing some kind of special training? Those questions had nagged at her for the entire afternoon and night since the task.

So far Potter had not been seen by the majority of the school since he arrived back at the castle, though that might have been because he was partying with the Gryffindors all night, which was telling in itself, as although he appeared to be on the outs with his closest friends he still seemed to be friends with the other members of his House.

Glancing down to the far end of her table, a slight smirk crossed Daphne's face as she saw the pale faced Malfoy in a muttered conversation with a few of the other members of his clique. It appeared the little ferret was regretting his actions the previous day when he had given Rita Skeeter that quote. She had no doubt he had likely thought it a good idea at the time, back before the true weight of Potter's victory had settled on him, as well as the consequences of his years of harassing Potter, consequences which now seemed much more formidable after Potter singlehandedly defeated a dragon.

Now it appeared he was realising the precarious position he was in, as some more neutral Slytherin's were debating the pros and cons of approaching Potter in friendship, or at the very least making an alliance of sorts, one which might benefit them after Hogwarts. Malfoy, and likely others however, were now realising that the kid they had been deriding for years was actually a powerful Wizard, one who could become a terrible enemy for them in the future, unless they were very, very careful.

Twisting round to the front of the room, Daphne was brought out of her thoughts when whispers became louder and began to fill the Great Hall, her violet eyes narrowing as she looked at the reason behind the sudden commotion. Looking over she quickly noticed that Harry Potter had entered the Great Hall, his black hair as messy as ever, his green eyes brighter than previously, now he wasn't hiding them behind a pair of spectacles.

Most noticeable however was the way he carried himself, she had noticed it before when she had seen him before the task. The way he walked was far more open and confident than he had previously, and the smile on his face was also a surprise. For Daphne it was almost like he was completely oblivious to the stir his presence had caused as he instead waltzed into the room.

Glancing over at him, for a single instant Daphne felt their eyes connect, and in that moment she saw the slightest of smiles spread across his face, this one far more genuine than the other one he was throwing around. Frowning at that, Daphne then proceeded to watch as a small number of Gryffindor's approached him on his way to the table, most notably amongst them was Granger and Weasley, though she noticed a few others with them. All of whom Potter had apparently snubbed at the Gryffindor House party the night before, either ignoring them or telling them to 'fuck off' when they tried to speak to him.

"Harry!" Granger shouted as she approached Potter, her bushy hair even more unsightly then usual as she, a few Weasleys and Longbottom all approached the green eyed Wizard. Not noticing as they did how his smile faded as he paused mid-step and turned to look at them.

"Let's not make a spectacle, eh Hermione?" Potter replied, his voice quiet yet still audible, his voice holding a slight coldness to it that startled some of the people in the hall, those who were deliberately listening in.

"Look Harry, I'm not sure why you're so angry, but I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. Can't we just start again like it never happened? I mean we made a mistake, you shouldn't be so cruel and rude for just a silly little mistake." Granger asked, her tone somehow both pleading and condescending at the same time, the Mudblood having obviously not noticed the frostiness in Potter's voice.

"Look Hermione, I thought I made it clear. I'm done with you, I don't want to see you, I don't want to speak to you and I certainly don't want to be friends with you. Nor Longbottom or the Weasley's." Potter replied blandly, his voice holding the tell-tale sign of Occlumency, to Daphne at least, his emotions obviously being kept under a tight leash.

"Harry we're your friends!" Granger cried out, completely taken aback.

"Not anymore." Harry replied coolly before he made to walk past them, his gaze trailing over to the Ravenclaw table for a few moments before flicking back to where Daphne was sat. Her eyes narrowing once again as she saw the faintest hint of fondness in his gaze. Potter might be good at Occlumency, but Daphne was probably even better at reading people.

"What do you mean by that you bloody git!?" The youngest Weasley son snapped out, his face going a ruddy red colour as Harry proceeded to sweep past the group. His expression still neutral as he simply just ignored them.

"I would have thought that was obvious." Potter replied dryly, "I don't want anything to do with any of you."

With that said, Potter wandered over to the Gryffindor table where he leaned over and had a whispered conversation with a small group of girl's that Daphne recognised as belonging to the Gryffindor Quidditch team. After which he surprisingly stood up and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, where he proceeded to have another quiet conversation before he sat down, right in between the part Veela, Fleur Delacour and the Ravenclaw student, Cho Chang. A move that caught many of those watching by surprise.

However when no one at the teachers table said anything, the rest of the hall once again descended into quiet muttering, everyone began to ignore his actions, only occasionally glancing over to where he was at as they instead went back to their gossiping.

"What do you think Daph?" Tracey asked, getting Daphne's attention as she did so.

"Think?" Daphne queried as she looked away from Harry, who by now was happily chatting away to both Cho and Fleur, and instead turned to her friend.

"About Potter?" Tracey asked as she looked over to Potter's old friends who had sat down in a huddle at the Gryffindor table and were muttering to each other, sending strange looks to Harry, before sending one another significant looks afterwards.

"I think that there's something off. He's different that before." Daphne replied, her gaze now on Tracey. "He is stronger than before, more confident too. It's almost like he's an entirely different person."

"Maybe he's still possessed from second year." Blaise replied dryly, referencing one of the rumours that Skeeter's article had started up.

"Or he could have finally fought off the possession." Tracey added in with a grin, the brunette delighting in the rumours, it was a favourite pastime of hers to take a rumour then exaggerate it even more, before passing it on.

"I doubt it has anything to do with possession." Daphne replied with a light shrug. "May be he's just grown up and decided to cut away the dead weight and hangers on and reach his true potential."

"Quite a quick bout of growth don't you think?" Blaise asked, after all his display was far beyond what his previously mediocre talent would have suggested he was capable of.

"You'd be surprised what a sufficiently determined Wizard is capable of." Daphne replied in amusement to Blaise, giving the boy a verbal jab as she did, before she focused back on the matter at hand. "Besides I suspect he was more capable than he led most to believe, after all you heard about how he duelled Quirrel in first year, killed Slytherin's monster in second year and used a Corporeal Patronus to ward off a hundred Dementors in third year?"

"All of which were rumours." Blaise replied, a disbelieving note in his voice.

"I believe most rumours have at least some basis in fact." Daphne replied with a shrug.

"What about the new ones about what happened in second year then? I've also heard that he might have fought with Quirrel not to protect something from being stolen, but to steal something himself, something which Quirrel was defending." Tracey spoke up, playing devil's advocate now.

"I doubt any of those new rumours are true, they're merely spurred on by that nonsense Skeeter wrote." Daphne replied dismissively. "They'll fade away in a few days."

"You seem quite defensive about Potter?" Tracey questioned, a slight smirk on her face as she leant forwards. "Did his fight with the dragon get your attention, did it make you a little wet?"

"Tracey don't be disgusting." Daphne replied a look of distaste on her face at her friend's vulgar comment. "But I will admit I am interested, not in a romantic way though, more in an academic way."

"So you want to study him?" Blaise asked blandly.

"I want to work out what makes him tick, why he suddenly changed and what he's going to do next?" Daphne replied sharply, her analytical mind already working to piece together the mystery surrounding Harry Potter.

"Sounds like you're obsessed." Tracey replied. "Though I think it would be interesting to get to know him. If he'll speak to a Slytherin that is, after all I think Malfoy might have soured his opinion of us all."

"Well he didn't have a problem talking with me the other day." Daphne responded with a shrug and a slight smile.

"Oh really?" Tracey grinned as she turned to fully face Daphne, "So you've already got an in?"

"One I'll take advantage of when I get to know the real Harry Potter." Daphne said nonchalantly.

"Oh you crafty minx." Tracey grinned.

Daphne shrugged at that, before she once again looked over at Potter. Her curiousity burning brighter than ever as she saw the easy smile on his face as he talked to Cho Chang, the slightest hint of envy growing within her at the thought of Cho Chang, maybe getting to the answer behind the mystery that was Harry Potter, before her.

 **( - )**

 **(A few minutes previously)**

"I would have thought that was obvious." Harry replied as he looked over to those assembled in front of him.

People he had been actively trying to avoid since he had fully assimilated into this body. Which had been helped along by the fact that all of them had been spurning him and ignoring him prior to the first task.

With them only just now crawling out of the woodwork and trying to be 'good friends' again, when he had not just succeeded in the first task, but won. "I don't want anything to do with any of you."

The expression on their faces at that would normally have made him let out a loud laugh. That is if it were not for him trying to fight back his disgust. He might have killed these people in his own timeline, twenty years ago for him, but his anger at them and the betrayal he felt still ran hot. There were some wounds that not even time could fully close up or heal.

There was a reason he had been avoiding them since he had returned, after all some of the people now in front of him, in the future grew up to be his greatest enemies, more than Voldemort had ever been. Oberon and Titania, the "Light Lords", was what they had called themselves.

Unfortunately these people were as misguided as they were pretentious, after all they had not only ruined his life, but they had ended and ruined millions of others. Between them they almost ruined the nation, and plunged the world into a never-ending war, one fought not just between the different magical factions both Wizarding and 'creature', but also between the muggles, or mudpeople as they were later called, and their factions.

After all this war was truly worldwide, as it spread to every country on the globe, starting with the destruction of the statute of secrecy and ending with the masses of death and destruction as entire species were wiped out, land became eradiated and cities burned in magical fire.

Oberon and Titania, they were names influenced by the magical King and Queen of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. Arrogant, petty and misguided fools, that was what the people who assumed those names were. They were people who thought they knew best, which led them to ruining everything and everyone they came into contact with.

Of course eventually like all tyrants, all Lord's either Light or Dark, they fell. In fact Harry had the pleasure of cutting the two of them down, so long ago now, still there legacy remained. Yet here and now he could see them again, after all two of them were right here, standing in front of Harry, oblivious of the people they would one day become and of the atrocities they would one day commit.

It would be so easy for him to simply to kill them here and now, to cut them down before they grew to be the people he despised. But such an act would be murder, one which no one else would understand, not without context that is. That being said Harry was aware that one day he might be forced into such actions, which is if he didn't take action now to ensure they didn't become the people they had in his timeline.

Of course just like the issue with Voldemort, these two were not the main reason he had returned. He would ensure they would not ruin his life once more like they had in his past, but he would not devote all his time and energy to it. Sure vengeance would be nice, but happiness with the women he had come to love would be a lot nicer.

With that thought in mind, Harry proceeded to turn around and walk away from the assembled group, completely ignoring the group behind him and the calls and attempts to talk to him as he instead wandered over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hey Dark Lord Potter!" Katie Bell, a cheerful looking girl with long curly brown hair and hazel eyes called out, as she looked up from her breakfast and her conversation with her fellow Gryffindor chasers to greet Harry. "You decided to finally grace us with your presence?"

Harry rolled his eyes in amusement as he heard that, his lips twitching upwards. "Funny."

Katie grinned widely at that, her eyes twinkling as she heard Harry's dry response. "So are you going to sit down or what?"

Harry nodded at that, before he looked over the hall, glancing over to the avidly watching Daphne, meeting her gaze for a moment and seeing the familiar curiousity in her eyes. Harry smiled slightly at that, his mind drawn back many years ago, to when the two of them had lived together in marital bliss, back when Daphne Potter had been an up and coming Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries and Harry an Auror Captain.

A painful pang went through Harry at that, after all as pleasant as those nostalgic feelings were, so too did they remind him of what he had lost, and what he had come back to regain. With that thought in mind he looked over to the Ravenclaw table where he could see an attractive girl, with Asian features, waist length silky black hair and a fit, athletic body sitting.

Seeing her, another wave of both nostalgia and pain flowed through him. Cho Chang, later known as Cho Potter, Harry's second wife and second and only other love. They had been around thirty when they had first gotten together, some years after Daphne had been taken from him and had been married for some twenty years before she too had been taken from him before her time.

There love had been one that had built up and strengthened over time, different to the all consuming passion that he and Daphne had shared. It was different, but no less real, no doubt because unlike with him and Daphne who had fallen in love as teenagers, he and Cho had met later in life when they were both older and more experienced.

"Actually you know what Katie, I think I'll go sit on the Ravenclaw table today." Harry replied suddenly, his smile widening as Cho looked up and met his gaze, her eyes lighting up and her smile widening as she did so.

"What really?" Katie asked in surprise. "Are we even allowed to do that?"

"There's no rule against it." Harry replied easily, giving a few greeting to the other Gryffindors who said hello to him. Ignoring Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny as they sat down at the table a few metres away.

"Ok, that's fair. Though I take it you'll be sitting with us at lunch?" Katie asked, one of her eyebrows raised as she too glanced over at the Ravenclaw table, her gaze locked on the smiling Fleur who waved to Harry as he too looked back over there. "After all, I can't blame you for trying to cozy up to a Veela, even if I didn't think the whole, superficial, glamour model thing would be your type."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at that assumption, after all Daphne was part Veela and she was the least superficial person he knew. She was someone of great beauty both inside and out. "Never judge a book by its cover Katie."

"Whatever." Katie grinned, before nudging Harry's hip with her shoulder. "Go on then lover boy, I'll see you at lunch later."

Harry rolled his eyes at that, but said no more as with a nod to Alicia, Katie and Angelina, the three Chasers on his Quidditch team, the three of them having become his close friends both during his school years and in adulthood. "See you later."

With that said Harry wandered away from the Gryffindor table, and instead wandered over to where Fleur and Cho were sat, his grin widening as he threw the duo a half glare. Ignoring that sour cow, Marietta Edgecomb as she scowled suspiciously over at him.

"Hello Harry." Fleur called out as Harry approached, her French accent as strong as ever as she flashed him a smile, flicking some of her silvery hair over her shoulder as she did so.

"Fleur." Harry replied with a nod and a slight smile, his smile widening as he saw Cho looking over at him with a smile now. "And Cho, how're you doing?"

"As good as ever, especially now the first task is done." Fleur replied easily, before she moved up slightly so Harry could take a seat, which he gladly did.

"I hear that." Harry replied softly as he sat on the bench between Cho and Fleur, ignoring the murmuring, odd looks and commotion his action caused as the onlookers mumbled to each other about whether or not he was allowed to sit at another House's table. "What about you Cho? I've not really seen you since last year."

Cho sent him an odd smile at that. "What when you were ogling me on the Quidditch pitch?"

Harry blinked at that before smiling. "So you noticed that?"

"Oh my, has the little boy got a little friend." Fleur asked, her smile widening as she looked between Harry and Cho.

"Still with the little boy?" Harry asked dryly, rolling his eyes as at Fleur.

"Besides from what I hear he's a potential Dark Lord now." Cho added in, the easy, almost amused way she said such showing just what she thought of that idea.

"Yes, you English seem to enjoy jumping to conclusions." Fleur replied with a throaty chuckle. "You are such a quaint little country."

Harry rolled his eyes at that dig.

"It's because most Witches and Wizards lack common sense, they're not able to separate tabloid trash like Rita Skeeter's writing, from actual news." Cho added on, knowing as she did how ridiculous Skeeter's articles were, and how ridiculous the people who ate them up were.

"Well, I think I'll be having a word with Rita the next time I see her." Harry replied dryly, several ideas already running through his head about how he could deal with the pesky little bug.

"Anyway," Cho spoke up, her smile widening as she leant closer to Harry, her dark eyes wide with curiousity. "That was an amazing show you put on the other day? I've never seen any magic like that before?"

"It's not all that hard to use once you know what you're doing." Harry replied with a shrug, the smile once again on his face. "I can show you a bit of it if you want."

Cho's eyes seemed to twinkle at that. "Well it would be nice to actually learn how to use Runes, all we're doing in class at the moment is doing the theory behind them. Would you have the time though? You know with the tournament and all?"

"I probably do." Harry shrugged, as he turned and began to fill his plate up with a smattering of breakfast food. Ignoring a few derisive comments from Fleur about how English food was too fatty and greasy and how a more continental breakfast would be better, as he did so. "I mean our next task isn't till like the twenty fourth of February, I'd be happy to give you a few pointers."

Cho grinned wider at that. "That'd be amazing!"

Harry shrugged easily at that, his heart beginning to beat faster as he saw that excited smile on her face, one which was very familiar to him. It looks like he had set it up so Cho and he would be seeing each other more, he just needed to do the same with Daphne.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? I hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave a review.**

 **As I mentioned before at the beginning of my story this, story will going into an expanded Potterverse, taking into account magical creatures and magic from other countries as well as muggle/ magical relations. All things that were never really fully explored or developed in the books, or at least I don't think so. That being said the exploration and development of the relationships in this story will be just as important if not more so.**

 **Also again for the people who don't pay attention, this story is my own version of Paid in Blood by Zaterra02, with permission.**

 **Hope you all continue to read and if you have a spot of time you use it to read some of my other stories.**

 **See you all later.**

 **Greed720.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey all, here is the next chapter of the Renegade, sorry for the wait, hope you all enjoy the chapter and leave a review!**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _Cho's eyes seemed to twinkle at that. "Well it would be nice to actually learn how to use Runes, all we're doing in class at the moment is doing the theory behind them. Would you have the time though? You know with the tournament and all?"_

 _"_ _I probably do." Harry shrugged, as he turned and began to fill his plate up with a smattering of breakfast food. Ignoring a few derisive comments from Fleur about how English food was too fatty and greasy and how a more continental breakfast would be better, as he did so. "I mean our next task isn't till like the twenty fourth of February, I'd be happy to give you a few pointers."_

 _Cho grinned wider at that. "That'd be amazing!"_

 _Harry shrugged easily at that, his heart beginning to beat faster as he saw that excited smile on her face, one which was very familiar to him. It looks like he had set it up so Cho and he would be seeing each other more, he just needed to do the same with Daphne._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 7**

 **( - )**

 **(At Hogwarts, a few days later)**

It was a few days later, that Harry Potter found himself walking alone through the corridors of Hogwarts, a slight smile on his face and a skip in his step as he did so. The reason for this of course being his recent interactions with Cho, the two of them having become friendlier with one another over the last few days, even if it was just chatting in the hallways when they passed, for the moment.

As Harry had also recently agreed to show Cho some of the more practical applications for using Runes, or more specifically how they can be more easily and practically used in combat and everyday life. With this being something that Hogwart's didn't really teach, as its Ancient Runes course was heavily theory based.

Luckily for Cho though Harry was a damned skilled user of Runes and was more than happy to give her a lesson or two, the first of which would be happening later this evening in an unused classroom where the two had arranged to meet.

Currently though it was still relatively early in the morning and he had lessons, something Harry was less than happy about, as he was too damned old for that shit. Then again the body he was currently inhabiting wasn't, and it would likely cause him more trouble than he'd like, or than it was worth, if he just decided not to go. Which of course meant that he'd have to suck it up, smile and just get on with it.

Continuing down the corridor, Harry took a sudden right and headed into the dungeons, thankful as he did so, that he had gotten up early and had managed to avoid both Ron and Hermione, both of whom were still trying to 'rekindle their friendship' with him. Which meant they were approaching him at every opportunity they could and trying to wheedle into his good graces again. To which Harry would quite easily respond, by saying that he would rather gargle one of Snape's foul potions than give them the time of day.

Speaking of which he was about to see the dour, greasy haired man now, after all his Potions class was about to start, the one he shared with the Slytherins, and already Harry could feel a headache building at the lesson ahead, he'd hated the subject when he had first gone to school and hadn't become any keener when he left.

That being said he was able to see the practicality of the subject, and was able to harvest ingredients, and follow the recipes and make potions if he had too. But more often than not he simply acquired the potions premade, far less hassle that way. Or he just sent Dobby out to harvest the ingredients for him.

Of course one of the reasons for his distaste for Potions was likely due to his old Potions Master, Snape, the greasy git, and the man's treatment of Harry when he was at school. It was certainly very off putting and had meant Harry had somewhat taken against Potions, despite its many uses.

It was as he was thinking about potions, and his former teacher, that Harry began to think about the man who had loathed him, and who he himself had despised in turn.

The man had been a double agent, working for both Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort, passing information on to both parties all so he could save his own skin. In Harry's eyes the man was a coward, and from what Harry had heard he had died a coward's death, murdered by his master's own familiar, Nagini.

This was of course all hearsay, because Harry hadn't been there at the time, nor had he ever found out the reason for why Voldemort murdered his pet spy. After all Voldemort had been vanquished once again later that very same evening, his body destroyed by Harry in the grounds of Hogwarts. Unfortunately though the man had managed to linger on, as he still retained that last Horcrux of his, the Helga Hufflepuff's Goblet, the only one Harry hadn't been able to track down and destroy.

Shaking those thoughts of the past away, Harry pushed away the memories of a future which would likely never come to pass and instead focused on the present. His pace quickening as he heard the chatter of the waiting students further down the hall.

A half a minute later found Harry outside the potion's classroom with five minutes to spare before the class started.

Seeing this Harry proceeded to drop his book bag unceremoniously on the floor by his feet as he instead he leaned against the wall opposite the classroom, an amused smile on his face as he scanned the faces of those present. Ignoring the reproachful frowns he was receiving from Neville, Ron and Hermione, as well as the speculative glances he was being thrown by the few Slytherin that were also present.

Looking over at said Slytherins, a slight smile spread across Harry's face as he saw Daphne walking down the corridor, her two closest friends Blaise and Tracey walking beside her as she approached the Slytherin group from the direction of her common room.

Seeing her here and now Harry felt his heart skip a beat, especially since, as he looked over, the girl in question also glanced over to him, his right, emerald green eyes meeting her sparkling, violet ones for a single moment, her lips quirking upwards for the slightest of seconds, before she then looked away.

His future wife playing it cool as always, as she then proceeded to ignore him, sweeping by him with barely a glance before she came to a stop a half dozen feet away from him. The beautiful girl letting out a bored sigh as she turned and rested her silvery blonde hair against the wall, close enough to be within hearing range of all those gathered, but far enough away that she wouldn't have people coming up to her and trying to interact. Which Harry could see already was a possibility, as she was a very good looking girl, and this hall was filled with nearly a dozen very teenage boys in the middle of puberty. With this only being exasperated by the fact that she was also part Veela too, and although her allure wasn't as strong as Fleur Delacours', it was still enough to gain the attention of most the puberty ridden boy's in the corridor.

Scowling as he saw the lingering glances she was receiving, Harry pushed himself off the wall, his expression nonchalant as he saw he had drawn the attention of the waiting students. Not that he particularly cared as he instead looked over to Daphne, a grin spreading across his face when he noticed her looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Her curiousity overwhelming the dismissive façade she tried to put up before.

"So Daphne I have to ask, did you enjoy the show the other day?" Harry asked, ignoring the speculative glances both Tracey and Blaise gave the pair of them, and the slight muttering he could hear from both his own House and the other Slytherins as they saw him, Harry Potter, talking with a Slytherin like they were old friends.

"It was amusing enough Potter, who knew you had it in you?" Daphne replied a slight smirk on her lips as she took his sudden question in stride, adapting to the changing circumstances with ease.

"Well I do like to keep people on their toes, predictability was never my strong suit." Harry laughed with a shrug, leaning against the wall as he did so.

"No, though Runes obviously are… Who knew you would be so good at using them despite you having not taken the Ancient Runes elective?" Daphne responded easily.

"Well everyone needs a hobby." Harry said his eyes twinkling as he easily side stepped her question.

Daphne rolled her eyes at that.

"Wait a second, do you two know each other?" Tracey spoke up in surprise, her hazel eyes darting between the two of them in confusion.

"Yep, we're the best of friends." Harry replied enthusiastically.

"We met once before, for all of about five minutes before the First Task started." Daphne said dryly. "Though I have to say, he did make a good first impression, he was less dull and socially awkward than I was expecting."

"Wow, was that a compliment?" Harry asked in amusement. "Because if it was I think you might need to work on both the content and the delivery."

"It was merely an acknowledgement that you weren't as hopeless as I thought you might have been." Daphne shot back.

"Does that mean I have gotten your interest now?" Harry then asked with a grin.

"It'll take more than defeating a dragon to do that Potter." Daphne responded easily, though her lips did curl upwards in amusement.

"Sounds like you've got high standards?" Harry said solemnly, before he sent her a bright grin. "Challenge accepted."

"I didn't give you a challenge." The blonde replied, a finely manicured eyebrow rising in surprise and curiosity.

"Didn't you?" Harry grinned back, the two of them looking at each other for a few moments, violet meeting emerald.

"Ok, are you two flirting?" Tracey spoke up again, her head moving from one to the other, even as the rest of the class, Gryffindor and Slytherin both watched the byplay in a mixture of interest and confusion.

"Don't be absurd." "Completely ridiculous." Both Harry and Daphne said at the same time, a note of amusement in both of their voices.

"Ok, I'm definitely confused right now!" Tracey said loudly, rubbing her temple as she did so.

"Harry, mate!" A loud voice suddenly interrupted before either Harry or Daphne could reply. The source of the voice being the red faced Ron Weasley as he stormed over to where Harry was stood, shoving past a few Slytherin's as he did so. "What the hell are you doing talking to a filthy snake?!"

"It's called a conversation, Ron, one I would rather have with an attractive Slytherin girl than a ginger, shitbag like you." Harry replied bluntly, his tone losing all of the previous amusement as he instead scowled at Ron. "In fact I'd rather talk to Malfoy than you Ron, mainly because despite being an inbred cockjockey, he's at least not as slimy or backstabbing as you, though it is a close competition!"

Ron went bright red at that, his mouth opening and closing, as his temper rose his eyes bulging as he clenched his hands into fists.

Similarly at the other end of the hall Draco Malfoy looked equally as angry, his face contorting in fury as he pushed himself through the throng of students to where Harry was standing. Obviously not appreciating the comparison to Weasley, or maybe it was the inbred cockjockey comment.

"What the fuck!" Ron growled before he lunged at Harry, only to stumble into the wall as Harry moved round the angry red head and tripped him up, his movements so fluid as to be considered natural.

"Hello Professor Snape." Daphne suddenly spoke up, attracting the attention of all the surrounding students as she looked away from Harry and instead over to the doorway to the classroom, where the sallow faced, greasy haired Severus Snape could be seen, his lips curling upwards in distain as his dark eyes surveyed the class.

"Five points each from Gryffindor, Mr Potter and Mr Weasley." Snape then drawled, his eyes moving from the red faced Ron to the smiling Harry, his eyes twitching slightly as he saw Harry's smile, and how it didn't falter or get replaced by outrage at Snape's actions. "Now get inside."

The assembled students all nodded and mumbled at that, before they started entering the class room. Harry following along and taking a seat in the front, the slight smile not leaving his face as he clasped his hands and placed them on the table, his tranquil gaze resting on Snape, who in response just glared at him. An action that only made Harry smile wider, which in turn angered the Potions Master further.

Meeting Snape's dark eyes with his own, Harry then suddenly, out of nowhere felt a pressure in his mind, one he instantly recognised as Legilimency. His eyes widening a fraction and his smile tightening as he was suddenly taken back by Snape's brashness, after all, although not strictly illegal due to the sheer rarity of the skill, and how hard it was to prove something had happened. Legilimency on an unwilling person was still heavily frowned upon, and even a rumour of it could blackball a wizard and make it so they were looked on with suspicion for the rest of their lives.

Still, Snape had just made a big mistake here, after all, although he was not all that skilled in Legilimency, and certainly nowhere near Dumbledore or his wife, Daphne's, level, Harry had pretty formidable Occlumency defences. Ones that he had built up over decades of experience and trial and error, using every trick in the book to make his defences as strong as possible, just in case one of his many enemies tried to steal the secrets from his mind with force.

It was for this reason that only moments after he sent out his mental probe, Snape let out a shout of pain, his hands instantly clutching his head as he collapsed to his knees. His head suddenly feeling like every blood vessel in his brains had expanded to ten times the size, his mouth starting to feel metallic even as his head throbbed, and excruciating pain lanced through him.

"Professor, Professor!" Malfoy called out, leaving his desk and running over to the partially collapsed Potion's Master, his brow furrowing in concern as he saw Snape looked like he was screaming, only no sound came out.

A few moments later, but what for Snape felt like hours, the feeling disappeared his head suddenly clearing as he collapsed to the floor, his sweaty palms slapping onto the stones as he tried to brace himself.

Harry looked down in pity as he saw this, not regretting his actions, but emphasising with the pain Snape had probably felt. After all when you attempted to invade someone else's mind, you left your own undefended for a moment, which Harry had taken advantage of, as his defences automatically lashed out at any intrusion. Its targets, being the pain receptors in the brain, manipulating his attackers mind into thinking they were in overwhelming agony, which tricked their body into reacting to this, and thus stop their assault. Plus it tended to leave his attacker temporarily incapacitated, and open for Harry to cut them down with ease.

It was simplistic, but effective and highly efficient. Plus it also had backups in case that failed, such as an all but impenetrable wall, as Harry could always clear his mind and think of one thing and only one thing, his focus making it so the invader could see nothing but that, meaning they could get no grip on Harry's mind. With Harry then taking advantage of this distraction as they scrambled for entry into his mind, by cutting them down.

"Are you all right, Professor?" Harry then asked, the pity leaving his face as he once again remembered what a turd of a person this man really was.

Snape winced as he heard that hated voice, pushing himself to his feet through sheer force of will as he then glared at the source. His dark eyes once again meeting Harry Potter's amused ones, Snape's face steadily turning red in rage and embarrassment as he did so.

"Potter, one hundred points from Gryffindor for assaulting a teacher!" Snape then snarled, his tone filled with rage as he looked around, only to become a little confused as he saw everyone looking at him with confusion, and worry, as if they thought he were about to lash out at them like a mad man.

"But Professor, I didn't do anything." Harry replied calmly, too calmly, showing none of his previous hotheadness, as he instead just looked at Snape with that irritating tranquil gaze.

"Twenty more for talking back to a teacher!" Snape snapped out again, oblivious to how even the Slytherin's were looking uncomfortable now, not aware as he did so, that this obvious bias was beyond anything he had ever done before, and was in fact too far. On top of that he was still under the impression that Harry actally gave a damn about House Points.

"If you believe it's justified, professor?" Harry replied, his lips twitching upwards as he knew Snape was about to fall into his trap. It had been one he had made up on the fly, literally just now, but since killing the Potion's Master wasn't on the cards at the moment, the least he could do is discredit him.

After all taking a few extra points for no reason, here and there was one thing, it could be overlooked. But taking one hundred and twenty points for seemingly nothing, well that was quite another. That amount of points being taken would be reported to Dumbledore, McGonagall and the Governors, along with what they were taken for, which as far as everyone knew, was for Harry doing nothing more than looking at Snape.

Snape growled at that, before he paused, his eyes narrowing as he saw the slightest hint of satisfaction in Potter's gaze, his eyes then roving around the room only to see the looks of shock and confusion on the rest of his student's faces. "Anymore lip and it'll be a year's worth of detentions, and another one hundred points!"

"But Professor, he like, didn't do anything?" Parvati Patil spoke up on Harry's behalf, the other Gryffindor's and even a few Slytherin's muttering their agreement.

"He assaulted me!" Snape snapped in response, almost losing his composure for a moment.

"But Professor he didn't do a thing, he didn't even have his wand out when you suddenly collapsed." Hermione spoke up insistently, not looking at Harry as she did so, her mind instead on the one hundred and twenty point Gryffindor had just lost.

Snape froze at that, his mind suddenly whirling as he looked back to Potter, then back around the room, already comprehending what might have happened. After all the last thing he had done was try and infiltrate Potter's mind, and then the pain had come. But if what the students said was true, and Potter didn't have a wand out, then what did that mean? Was it some kind of natural mental defence, or was it one that Potter had carefully cultivated, and if so how?

"The instructions are on the board. Begin. IN SILENCE!" Snape then snapped in response, his anger and irrational behaviour making it so the students instantly did as they were told. With that done Snape then turned and strode back to his desk.

Watching him go, Harry's gaze turned icy cold for a moment, before he then looked to the board, noticing as he so that the potion on the board was a more powerful variant of the healing potion, one of moderate difficultly. Luckily for Harry though he had brewed this potion a few times before, the first time around, and so was more than aware how to create it. Plus as he had gotten older he had only become more meticulous, which meant a task like this, which was basically following the instructions was simple.

With that said he then started to chop his ingredients while the water boiled and quickly went to work, ignoring the confused looks he was receiving from the other students, as they tried to work out just what had happened.

Snape, however, was just sat at his desk, his mind whirling as his cunning thought process began to unpick exactly what had happened, and the potential fall out from that. His skin growing paler and his jaw tenser as he realised he would have to explain to Dumbledore and McGonagall why he had taken that many points, which would also likely involve the use of some memories from the other students.

All of which would show Potter and him looking at each other for a moment, before he doubled over in pain, and then moments later took one hundred and twenty points off Potter for seemingly nothing. After all he couldn't admit to trying to probe Potter's mind, as although not illegal it would likely cost him his job as the Governors, who he was already on shaky ground with, would want him removed, and he doubted even Dumbledore could protect him.

But on top of that there was the fact that the Governors, when they found out could still call for his removal. Which would likely mean Dumbledore would be forced to give Potter the points back, and then call in a lot of favours, otherwise Snape would be out on his arse. After all McGonagall would not allow something like this alone, not even if Dumbledore asked it of her.

Snape's eyes narrowed angrily at that, even as he then gazed at Potter, his eyes narrowing as he realised he had been baited. Potter having taken advantage of the fact Snape underestimated him, all so he could put him in this untenable position. It showed a level of cunning and knowledge far beyond what he thought Potter was capable of.

It was as these thoughts flowed through Snape's mind that the class ended, and Harry presented him with a vial of bright red coloured liquid, as good as the best brewers in the class. With Snape only being able to glower angrily at the boy and his potion as he did so.

"Thanks for the lesson Professor." Harry then said cheerfully, before he turned and walked away, ignoring the others as he then left the room, his gaze meeting Daphne's for a moment, before he did so.

 **( - )**

 **(A little later)**

"Why the hell did I do that?" Harry muttered to himself as he stalked through the corridors of Hogwarts, taking several secret passages as he avoided the rest of his housemates, with him not being in the mood to deal with any of them at the moment.

He knew he'd been stupid back there, playing games with Snape like he had. Sure he wasn't exactly trying to be subtle at the moment, the sudden obvious change in his character, and new repertoire of skills was evidence enough of that. But antagonising Snape like that, and making a spectacle of himself, that had been unnecessary.

That being said he held no regrets about defending his mind from Snape's assault, and thinking back on what had happened, he knew that the blow back would be worse for Snape than it would for him. After all, all he would have to contend with was some annoyed housemates, most of whom would likely blame Snape, as it was obvious for everyone else in the classroom that Harry had done nothing.

Or rather it was obvious to nearly everybody else in the classroom, as from what he remembered, Daphne, even so early on in her life, was a prodigy in the mind arts. With her parents pushing her towards them early on, as she was trained to defend her mind from her family's political enemies, only for her to then find out that she had a gift for it, a gift which she later honed till she was one of the best that Harry had ever seen.

It was for that reason that he suspected Daphne had at least an inkling of what had actually happened back there in the classroom. Though whether she would say anything to him was debatable, after all it was far more likely that she would sit on it for now so she could use it later.

Running his hand through his hair, Harry took a few breaths to steady himself, his other hand absentmindedly rubbing at his chest, before he nodded, knowing as he did so, that unless he was careful he would be late for Charms Class, and that wouldn't do as he had already alienated one teacher, or at least alienated himself more than he already had.

With that in mind, Harry fully gathered himself, before he continued on, using a few more hidden corridors before he arrived at the Charms class room, his gaze lazily travelling down the corridor and noticing he was the only one here, his previous fears of being late apparently being unfounded.

"Mr Potter, you're early?" A slight high-pitched voice chirped, attracting Harry's attention as he glanced down, only to see the diminutive form of Professor Flitwick, the half Goblin, Charm's Master, looking more cheerful than usual as he popped his head out of his classroom and looked up at Harry.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that, just had a bit of trouble with Professor Snape, sir. Decided to get out of the dungeons pretty sharpish after that." Harry replied with a shrug, and a slight smile.

"Yes well, Severus can on occasion be a little bit prickly." Flitwick replied with a nod, before he smiled up at Harry. "Well then, you might as well come in whilst you wait."

Harry nodded at that, entering the classroom as he did so, and taking a seat, pulling the books out of his bags as he settled himself down, a faint smile on his face at the nostalgia of being back in this class room again.

"I would also just like to congratulate you on defeating the dragon like you did." Flitwick continued to speak, the small Professor climbing up into his own chair, behind his desk, as he then looked over at Harry. "I mean Spellbinding, that's a tricky magic to master, very tricky indeed."

"Magic is as complex as people are. Different people excel at the different branches. I just found my niche." Harry replied with a shrug, being relatively honest as he did so.

"Yes, well even so it was an impressive display, as too was your proficiency in inanimate Transfiguration, and animation charms." Flitwick continued, his expression still enthusiastic. "I only wonder if your core Charms skills are on the same level?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow at that, before he looked over at the Professor, noticing the eager expression on his face as he did so.

"Not quite on the same level, but I'm better than average." Harry replied carefully, wondering where his Professor was going with this.

Flitwick nodded at that, a slight gleam entering his eyes. "Tell me Mr Potter, did you know that I used to be a Professional Duellist?"

"I'd heard you were sir, I also heard you won a few competitions in your time?" Harry replied, knowing as he did that the man had in fact been a Grand Champion, and even now was quite renowned in certain Duelling circles.

Flitwick nodded at that, before he smiled again. "Yes, quite a few actually. Though tell me Mr Potter, have you ever thought about getting involved in tournaments, and maybe competing on the international duelling stage?"

Harry cocked an eyebrow at that, but still smiled. "No sir, can't say I ever have. Though it does sound quite interesting?"

Flitwick nodded enthusiastically at that, "It certainly is, so, with that said, do you think you would perhaps be interested in maybe a bit of extra tutoring. A few taster sessions so to speak, to see whether you might have any interest in trying your hand at duelling?"

Harry grinned at that. "That sounds pretty good Professor, I'd love to give it a go, if you're willing?"

"Of course, I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't. Though this will only happen if you stay on track in regards to all your classes!" Flitwick continued, his voice turned slightly sterner at the end.

Harry nodded at that. "No problem at all sir, when would you like to start?"

"I have a few hours free after lunch on Saturday?" Flitwick offered.

"Sounds great sir, I will see you there." Harry replied enthusiastically, a grin on his face at the thought of the offer. After all, he had never done it the first time around, with his own duelling skills and fighting style instead being all self-taught, and based on hard won experience and his own interpretation of both his allies and enemies fighting styles. The chance to expand on his existing skills was not something he would refuse, certainly not when the offer came from a wizard of Flitwick's calibre.

Flitwick smiled at that. "I will see you here on Saturday then, at two o'clock?"

Harry nodded at that, however before any more could be said between the two of them, the first of the other students began arriving, Harry's housemates filing in slowly, some of them still grumbling amongst themselves about what a git Snape was, whilst the a few of the Ravenclaws they shared the class with also entered, taking the seats on the opposite side of the room to Harry, their side of the room.

"Take your seats class, it is almost time for the lesson to begin!" Flitwick spoke up, standing on his seat and peering over his desk at the newcomers as he cheerfully waved them into the room.

"Harry mate!" Dean Thomas said loudly as he saw Harry, taking the seat beside him as he did so, his friend Seamus Finnegan following after him. "What happened in Snape's classroom, that was bang out of order, you didn't deserve that shit."

"Yeah the greasy bastard was probably on his period, or something." Seamus added on, sitting next to Dean as he did so. "And don't worry, Lavender and Parvati already went to McGonagall about it, and you know she's not going to take this shit lying down!"

"Yeah man, no one blames you for what happened." Dean said, clapping Harry on the shoulder as he did so. "I mean, I heard even some of the Slytherins, saying that that was fucked up."

"Really?" Harry asked curiously. "The Slytherins said that?"

"Yeah, it surprised us too." Seamus shrugged, before a grin spread across his face. "But me and Dean heard them, it was that very bangable blonde and her mates who were talking about it."

"I hope you're not talking about Malfoy?" Harry asked a bemused smile on his face.

Seamus grimaced at that. "Not funny mate."

Dean however laughed. "Nah, it was that Greengrass girl, the one you were talking to before. You know the hot Veela girl, her and her mates were talking about it, and they seemed to be on your side, if you can believe it?"

Harry's eye twitched as he heard that, not all that sure he appreciated his future wife being referred to as 'bangable', by Seamus. Despite that though he instead put on a smile, seeing an opportunity here. "Really? Maybe I should track them down and talk, maybe make new friends?"

"What with Slytherins?" Seamus asked incredulously.

"Yeah why not? I'm mean they're probably a lot more reliable than my old mates, like Weasley, Granger and Longbottom." Harry shrugged.

"I still don't get your beef with them Harry? Yeah sure, they acted like shitty friends, but to cut them out completely?" Dean asked curious about why the sudden change in attitude to his onetime best friends. It was as he was saying this that Lavender and Parvati walked in, taking the seats on the other side of Harry as they did so.

"No, I can get why he's doing it. Hermione and Ron were, like, his best friend after all, and then they, like, turned their backs on him." Lavender spoke up, as she took the seat right beside Harry. "I totally would have cut them out if they did that to me."

Parvati hummed in agreement at that. "Totally."

Hearing this Harry shrugged, "It is, what it is. My friendship with them is over, and I'm not interested in building bridges. Making new friends though, I'm up for that."

"Well you've got us now? Do you really need to make friends with some Slytherins too?" Seamus asked loudly, not looking round as Ron, Neville and Hermione then entered the room, and took the seats behind them.

"Yeah, I don't see why not, I might even track them down after class." Harry shrugged, completely blanking his three former friends, as he instead directed the conversation elsewhere. "By the way Lavender, Dean mentioned you and Parvati just went to see McGonagall?"

The blonde girl blinked at that, before she suddenly nodded. "Yeah, we totally did, and she was so pissed when she heard what happened. I mean she was, like, fuming, you should have seen her. Well, yeah anyway, she sent us here and said she would be having words with Snape, and from what I saw, he's about to be in, like, a lot of trouble!"

"Like so much trouble." Parvati added on helpfully.

"Well hopefully he gets the sack now or something." Harry shrugged, his lips curving upwards at the thought of something like that happening, before anything else could be said though, they were interrupted by Flitwick calling for silence.

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime Later)**

It was much later in the evening, after an interesting enough Charms Class, where Harry, now in a good mood again, had decided to show off a little, displaying his mastery of the banishing charm, both verbally and nonverbally as he did so. An act which gained him forty House Points from an excited Professor Flitwick, and a glare from a jealous Hermione.

After that he, had then gone to the last class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures, where he had only half paid attention to looking after Hagrid's, Blast Ended Skrewts, as he instead spent more time chatting to the teacher. Engaging the half giant in a conversation over dragons, and thanking him for helping him out with the First Task like he had.

With Harry then happily whiling away the afternoon talking with the friendly Professor, whilst his fellow classmates chased after the foul tempered, hybrid creatures. Just enjoying that he had the chance to talk to Hagrid, the person who first introduced him to the magical world, and who died very early on in the war against Voldemort.

From there Harry had then gone to dinner, eating with Katie, Alicia and Angelina, as well as Seamus, Dean, Lavender and Parvati. The conversation flowing as they bitched about what an arsehole Snape was, and how Harry was crazy to think he could make friends with Slytherins. The conversation altogether being quite pleasant, as he simply forgot his troubles, and engaged with his Housemates, revelling in being around all the familiar faces, some of which he hadn't seen for decades.

It had been pleasant, but now he had shaken his friends off, making excuses as they headed to the Gryffindor Common Room, his own feet instead taking the route towards the Seven Floor corridor, where both the unused classroom he'd agreed to meet Cho in was, as well as the Room of Requirement.

"Dobby." Harry spoke up as he stuck his head in the Room of Requirement, a slight smile spreading across his face as he saw the room of hidden things looked to be a lot more depleted than before. With many of the mounds of junk having now disappeared, some of it salvaged and taken to the Chamber of Secrets, where Dobby was setting up their base of operations. Though he was sure the majority of it had likely just been destroyed.

Either way hopefully at least some of it had gone to the Chamber, after which it would be divided up into things Harry would keep, such as some of the furniture, books and ingredients, and things Harry would sell in order to build up his gold supply, which although not small at the moment, wasn't colossal either. After all some of the ingredients Dobby was under orders to collect for Harry's ritual enhancements, were not cheap, nor easy to come by.

Unfortunately though they were necessary, after all his current body was a lot weaker than he was used to, and however much he didn't want to deal with Voldemort, he knew he would likely not have a choice in the fact, and would be dragged into it the fracas between 'Light' and 'Dark' in some way or another.

"Master Harry?" Dobby chirped happily, Harry's Dobby appearing with a gleeful crack, an eager expression on his face a she did so. The House Elf currently being full of vigour at the moment, after all he had just spent the last few days clearing out the room of hidden things, a massive task, even for a House Elf, but one he was more than happy to take on.

"Master Harry Potter, sir?" A nearly identical voice spoke up at the nearly the same time, another Dobby appearing as it did so, this one looking slightly younger and a lot more awkward, as he looked up at Harry, a half dozen shabbily made wool hats perched on his head, and his clothing consisting of an immaculately clean child's T-shirt, which looked more like a dress on the Elf's spindly frame, than a shirt.

"Ah…" Harry muttered as he looked between the two Dobbys, his Dobby wearing a perfectly fitted butler uniform, and having a distinctly unimpressed expression on his face as he looked at his younger self. Whilst the other Dobby, was just looking in confusion between Harry, and the other Elf, one who he vaguely recognised for some reason.

"Master Harry Potter, sir…?" The younger Dobby trailed, off his large green eyes widening in confusion.

"That's me." Harry replied, getting this Dobby's attention. "And I was just wondering, how would you like to become bonded to me as my House Elf?"

The other Dobby, the older Dobby, shook his head frantically at that, already sensing that having his younger self around would be a headache waiting to happen. The younger Dobby though, never the sharpest of House Elves, just widened his eyes, before he began vigorously nodding his head in glee. Almost looking like he was about to burst, as he spewed out a whole babble of nonsense.

"Ok then," Harry then extended his hand, the younger Dobby grasping on for a moment, before Harry began to use his magic to bind Dobby to him. "Do you Dobby swear to serve me, until death takes you, or I release you from my service?"

"Yes, Dobby does, he does." Younger Dobby replied excitedly, practically bouncing up and down in excitement, much to his older self's embarrassment as he just put his face in his hands and shook his head.

Harry though ignored this for now, as he instead sealed the pact, feeling as he did so how Dobby's parasitic magic became bound with his own, which was a weird experience, especially since he now had both Dobby's bound to him, and both of their magic was identical.

"Ok then." Harry said with a sigh as he looked between the two. "First order, you can tell no one anything about me, without my express permission, and can't' mention the other Dobby?"

"Yes Master Harry Potter sir!" The younger Dobby shouted, bobbing his head up and down as he did, before he then looked curiously at the older Dobby. "Though why is this House Elf's name, the same as Dobby's name?"

Harry paused at that, before a bemused smile passed across his face as he realised that Dobby hadn't even understood what he was seeing when he first arrived. "Ok then, Dobby…"

Both Dobby's turned to him at that, the younger one looking eager, whilst the older one looked distinctly irritated.

"Ok, this is going to get very confusing." Harry muttered to himself, before he looked between the two of them. "Ok, Dobby one," Harry said pointing at the original, suit wearing Dobby, "Take Dobby two," here Harry pointed at the younger Dobby, "to the Chamber of Secrets, and then fill him in on the basics of what he needs to know, and then set him to work on some of your tasks, the easy ones that you aren't too bothered about." Harry finished lamely, wondering just how he'd gotten into this situation as he did so.

"You had to make a bond with him didn't you?" Dobby one said dryly, rolling his eyes as he did so.

"Would you rather I incinerate him, or attempt to bind his memories, and blow his head off by accident?" Harry asked, just as dryly.

Dobby one, paused at that, as if he was considering those options, before with a sigh he shook his head, instead pointing at Dobby two now. "You come with me! We're going to get you some better clothes to wear, and start teaching you how to properly enunciate words, because at the moment I want to kick you every time you speak, because you sound like a Dyslexic toddler…!"

"Huh?" Dobby two replied, his head tilted to one side in confusion.

Dobby one sent Harry a sour look as he saw this, before he grabbed the other Elf by the arm and disappeared with a crack, leaving Harry alone in the room now.

"Ok, so that just happened…" Harry muttered to himself, before he turned around and left the room, acknowledging as he did that he now apparently had another House Elf, even if it was a younger and hyperactive version of his old one.

Shaking his head at that Harry then closed the door behind him, watching as it then faded away, leaving just a blank stretch of wall now. He'd only gone in there to see how Dobby was progressing personally, and get a general update on his tasks.

Plus he'd also been planning on informing Dobby that he would be taking an excursion sometime soon, heading to the old Gaunt Family shack near Little Hangleton, so he could claim the Resurrection Stone and destroy the Horcux attached, after all he was curious to see how the magical item would react with the older version Harry had brought back with him, and already knew there would be some fun experimentation with the two rings in the coming months.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Harry instead headed towards the unused classroom where he had promised he'd meet Cho, so he could teach her a bit about Spellbinding, and the practical application of Runes, plus also begin to build a relationship with her.

 **( - )**

 **(A few minutes later)**

Entering the unused classroom a few minutes later, a smile lit up Harry's face as he saw Cho sat at one of the desks, a quill in one hand and an ink pot and sheaf of parchment in front of her, as she leant over what must be some homework she'd brought with her whilst she waited.

Pausing for a second Harry could only smile as he saw the girl was wearing her casual clothes, a pair of blue jeans and a slightly baggy T-shirt, her silky black hair currently tied up in a ponytail that reached to her lower back. For Harry though she never looked so beautiful, even the way she stuck a bit of her tongue out as she concentrated, one hand moving up to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear as she scribbled away on her parchment. It was all so familiar and endearing.

"Cho," Harry said with a smile, making his presence known as he entered the room, still wearing the charcoal grey trousers, white shirt and grey jumper of his school uniform, the top two buttons of his shirt undone and his Gryffindor tie quite loose around his neck, as he gave her a half wave. "It's good to see you, you're a here earlier than I thought you'd be?"

"Harry?!" Cho replied, her cheeks turning a little pink, and nervous smile spreading across her face as he caught her unawares.

Harry grinned at that. "So you ready to begin?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm really excited actually. It's why I was here so early!" Cho replied, regaining her composure and grinning at Harry now.

Harry smiled at that, before he nodded. "Right then, let's get to it then."

Cho nodded as she heard that, before she put a cap on her ink pot, dried off her quill and shoved her homework to one side. The athletic girl then standing up and walking out from behind her table now. "Ok, so where do you want to begin?"

"Let's start with just using normal Runes." Harry replied, before he walked over to her, picking up a few spare scraps of parchment, and borrowing her ink and quill as he did so. "Then we will get on to how to draw them with your magic, and use them more quickly, efficiently and functionally."

"Ok," Cho replied with a nod, quite eager now as she knew they didn't actually get to learn how to use Runes in a practical way until there NEWT year, and even then the practical portion of the class was only limited, as like with the rest of the course it was mainly based on the theory and the history behind Runes.

"Right, so to begin with there is a distinct similarity in how you cast normal spells, and how you use Runes. For example, if you want to cast a spell, you move your wand through some set motions, and then enunciate the words of the spell, or say them in your head if you can cast magic nonverbally." Harry began, pulling his wand out for the moment, before he then swished and flicked it, saying "Wingardium Leviosa" as he caused a nearby desk to levitate.

Cho nodded at that, leaning forwards in interest as she looked forward to seeing where he went with this.

Releasing the spell and allowing the desk to land back on the floor, Harry then put away his wand, instead grabbing the paper and ink again.

"When you do that, the wand motions mould your magic, and the words control the intent behind the magic, allowing you to focus on what you want to happen." Harry then said, Cho nodding again as he reiterated what she already knew about the reason behind the words of a spell and the motions of the wand. "Words and intent, it is how magicals wield their magic and manipulate reality at will, words and the intent behind a magicals spell have power. Mudmen, or muggles if you prefer, they use numbers, that is there science, and with their calculations they have gone on to do extraordinary things, like sending a man to the moon, or splitting the atom."

Cho nodded at that, knowing as a half blood witch herself, about what the muggles had accomplished, after all her maternal grandfather constantly banged on about it, the elderly man having somewhat of an inferiority complex as he kept trying to prove that the muggles were just as good, if not better than the magicals, despite the fact that no one in the family said otherwise.

Harry smiled as he saw this, before he then began to draw on the paper, writing out the simplistic Norse Rune for fire.

"Now Runes act in a similar way, the Rune itself and what it means to you guides the intent, and the runic symbol moulds the magic for you and acts as your focus, similar to a wand." Harry then continued, as he place a finger on the Rune and imbued it with a little bit of magic, the magic running through the ink lines of the Rune, moulding itself before a few moments later a small, but continuous stream of fire shot up from the Rune, feeding off the magic Harry put into it.

"That's all there is to it really, in regards to the basics that is. You write a Rune out, then you visualise what that Rune means to you and imbue it with magic." Harry then continued, as he watched the fire flare up for a few moments, before it sputtered out, the Rune having used up the small amount of magic Harry imbued it with. "And it doesn't have to be just elemental, it can be protective magic, restorative magic, as long as you have a symbolic sign you can make a link with, and it doesn't even have to be an actual Rune, then you can do it. Of course the effects of the Rune will require different amounts of magic to function, but I'll cover that later, as for now we'll just focus on the basics."

Cho nodded at that, understanding the principle of what he said as she looked over at the piece of paper, before after a nod from Harry she reached out and touched it herself, pushing a bit of her magic into it as she did so, an easy task that they learned how to do in third year as a way of fine tuning their magical control and gaining more awareness over it.

Moments later the same fire issued forth from the paper again, the small flame flaring up again as it consumed the magic she put into it, before it died out as it finished consuming its arcane fuel.

"Ok I see, so it really is that easy?" Cho asked, fascinated now, as she looked at how simplistic it really was to use Runes.

"At a basic level yes." Harry replied, before he smiled, touching the Rune again as he did so. "Though remember what I said about intent, and how Runes can mean different things to different people?"

With that said the Rune lit up again, only this time a bright light issued forth from it, similar to a lumos charm as it filed the room with soft silvery light.

"After all fire does not only mean, flames, it could also mean light, or heat, or warmth, and focusing on these different definitions can allow you to manipulate the effect of your Runes." Harry then continued, as he took his hand off the paper and stopped channelling magic into it. "The same can be said for normal spells, and it's a useful trick when it comes to a fight, and can easily confuse your opponent. After all I could wave my wand and just say 'fire', and by doing that I can cast an incendio spell, or I could cast an overpowered lumos. Though doing that requires quite a lot of mental discipline, including at least some ability with Occlumency."

"Oh but I already have the basics of Occlumency down." Cho spoke up, surprising Harry as she just gave him an eager grin. "My mum works as a lawyer and so got basic training to protect her client's secrets, she decided to teach me the basics to over summer."

"Well that'll be very useful, especially when it comes to controlling intent." Harry replied with a nod, surprised that he hadn't known this about her, but glad to as it meant he didn't need to teach her Occlumency. "Though I will show you a few tricks though in regards to Occlumency, if you want?"

"Yeah definitely!" Cho replied with a grin, before she looked back at the paper a thought suddenly occurring to her. "So, I've just realised, runic magic, it's a form of wandless magic isn't it?"

Harry smiled as he heard that before nodding. "Yep, one that anyone can learn." With that said Harry decided to show off a little, as he turned so he was facing away from Cho, and instead now faced a blank stretch of wall.

"What are you doing?" Cho asked curiously.

"Giving you an example of something I'll be teaching you when you get the basics fully down, and can move onto something a little more advanced, not quite as difficult as Spellbinding, but which is still pretty cool." Harry replied easily before he reached out with his right hand, his fingers glowing an intense blue with magic, as he traced them through the air, leaving a glowing blue outline in the air in front of him as he did so, spelling out the Norse Rune for storm, infusing it with his magic as he did so.

What happened next made Cho jump in shock, because moments after he finished the Rune it glowed a pale blue colour, before a bolt of lightning exploded out of it with a loud cracking sound, the lightning tearing through the air before striking the wall opposite them with a loud crash, splintering stone as it did so.

"You so have to show me how to do that!" Cho shouted excitedly, her face split by a wide grin as she unconsciously nudged up closer to Harry, her eyes filled with eagerness and fascination as she looked from the now singed wall to Harry in delight.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So there we go, there is the next chapter. What did you all think? I hope you enjoyed it?**

 **Also sorry for the time between updates, but unfortunately I got a little stuck in the beginning, before I realised I was restricting myself by not wanting to verge too far away from the original source material, Paid in Blood, which this was based off of, with Zaterra's permission. Which was the wrong thing to do as it limited my version, my story, which has already diverged massively from the original.**

 **So yeah sorry about that, hopefully the next update won't take too long. And whilst your waiting I would encourage you to checkout some of my other stories (shameless self-advertising).**

 **Thanks for reading, and hope you leave a review!**

 **See you next time.**

 **Greed720.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: So I was a little bit disappointed by the reaction to the last chapter, I had hoped for more, however a number of the reviews were focused on either Lavender and Parvati's speech pattern, or the speed of the story. Both of which are valid concerns I grant you, but which aren't that helpful when it comes to writing the next chapter.**

 **Still there were some supportative reviews, for which I thank you, I really do appreciate the support.**

 **So yeah other than that I managed to get this update out, so I hope you all like it and leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _Giving you an example of something I'll be teaching you when you get the basics fully down, and can move onto something a little more advanced, not quite as difficult as Spellbinding, but which is still pretty cool." Harry replied easily before he reached out with his right hand, his fingers glowing an intense blue with magic, as he traced them through the air, leaving a glowing blue outline in the air in front of him as he did so, spelling out the Norse Rune for storm, infusing it with his magic as he did so._

 _What happened next made Cho jump in shock, because moments after he finished the Rune it glowed a pale blue colour, before a bolt of lightning exploded out of it with a loud cracking sound, the lightning tearing through the air before striking the wall opposite them with a loud crash, splintering stone as it did so._

 _"_ _You so have to show me how to do that!" Cho shouted excitedly, her face split by a wide grin as she unconsciously nudged up closer to Harry, her eyes filled with eagerness and fascination as she looked from the now singed wall to Harry in delight._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 8**

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry, at Hogwarts)**

It had been nearly a month since Harry and Cho had had their first lesson together, and in that time thing s at the castle had changed somewhat. Both in terms of the now festive decorations strewn around the corridors, as both students and teachers alike got into the festive spirit, with the staff going above and beyond with their decorations this year as they showed off to their foreign visitors.

On top of that though, the infamous Hogwart's rumour mill had also gotten bored of gossiping about Harry's defeat of the dragon and the whether or not he was a true, full blown Dark Wizard, or a budding one, or just an average run of the mill student who had learned a handy if relatively unheard of branch of magic.

No instead the rumour mill had moved onto other things, like the upcoming Yule Ball, the traditional dance that was connected to the Tri Wizard tournament, that took place over Christmas Holidays, and would in fact be happening a week from today. With this piece of news having far overshadowed Harry's defeat of a dragon, after all it was far more interesting to speculate as to who would be going with who.

With extra attention having also fallen on the four Triwizard Champions, and who they would go with, as apparently it was traditional for the Champions to start off the Ball with a dance. Of course it was mostly speculation as to who the Champions would be going with, as neither Harry nor Krum's dates for the dance were known, nor was it known if they had even asked anyone yet. On top of that Cedric had not yet been released from Saint Mungos due to the severity of his burns, courtesy of the dragon.

In fact Fleur was the only one with a confirmed date, as apparently she was going with Roger Davis, the Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, which had circulated the castle for a while, before being dismissed as speculation once again turned to who the other three Champions would be going with, and whether Cedric would even be able to make it.

Of course that wasn't the only thing being talked about, nor was it the only thing that had changed in the castle over the last month. As for one Snape had apparently been put on probation, or at least that was the word on the corridor. As apparently there had been some big to do with governors over how Snape was taking and distributing House Points and his overall abuse of his position of authority as both a teacher and a Head of House. All of which came about after the Potion's Master was seen by dozens of students taking hundreds of points of Harry for no apparent reason, which was only made more controversial due to Harry's fame both as the vaunted Boy Who Lived and the Hogwart's Champion.

Unfortunately though Snape's actions weren't heinous enough for the Board of Governors to demand he be fired, though apparently that was only because Albus Dumbledore had called in quite a few favours.

However it was enough to have Snape removed as Head of House Slytherin and a new teacher, Professor Sinestra, made into his replacement. On top of that he now had a temporary teaching assistant, who was to 'help' him in class, though it was clear to many that the teaching assistant, a bland looking thirty something year old man, was actually there to assess Snape as a teacher and keep an eye on things, much to the sallow faced man's obvious irritation.

Of course all of this was supposed to be a secret, which naturally meant that the moment it happened most of the Hogwart's population already knew. Though that was also likely because the school's governors all had children or other relations that attended the school, and liked to gossip.

Though that being said gossiping was somewhat of a traditional wizarding pastime, after all with the gift of magic living life and earning money was made very easy, which meant they had to have something to do to occupy their time. Which more often than not involved either politics, gossiping, or some other hobby.

Through all of the ongoing events, Harry had also somewhat settled into his new life back at Hogwarts, and he had even com e to somewhat enjoy it, as he had started taking duelling classes with Flitwick.

Though it would be wrong to call them actual duelling classes, as they were nothing formal, and were instead just an occasional weekly meet up where they traded a few spells and went over the different traditional duelling styles and associated tactics. With Flitwick also pitching in with his 'old school' fighting style, something which would never be allowed on a professional duelling stage, not with how dirty it was.

On top of that Harry had also met up with Cho twice more for a bit of tutoring in the same unused classroom as before, in which he would spend a couple of hours showing her the finer points of crafting runes with her magic, weaning her off her reliance on ink drawn runes or carved runes as he did so. During which he would also engage her in conversation, slowly getting to know this younger Cho, one so similar, but also so different from the older, more mature one he had married.

That being said, their tutoring sessions had been going quite well for the most part, the two of them having quickly built up a friendly relationship, which had progressed as far as the two of them stopping in the halls to speak whenever they passed each other, and had even met up over the weekend for a walk on the snow covered grounds, and around the now partially iced over Black Lake.

All of which was a start, though one that Harry was planning on using to invite her to the Yule Ball with him. After all this younger Cho fascinated him, as they had only really gotten together in later life, which meant that this version of her, apart from an awkward liaison in his fifth year, was still a mystery to him, one he was very interested in unravelling, even if it did take him the rest of his life to accomplish it.

That being said his progress with Daphne had somewhat hit a bit of a dead end, as the two of them were now what he would call friendly acquaintances, ones who acknowledge each other when they passed in the corridors or see each other in the Great Hall, However they did not meet up in their free time, or go out of their way to see each other, yet.

Though still, things were moving in the right direction, even if only slowly. Hell, in the few lessons he shared with the Slytherins, like Potions and Defence the Dark Arts, they had even begun speaking whilst waiting for the lesson to start. Even if it was only small talk at the moment, and nothing deeper, it was still a start, and Harry was a patient guy. One who had literally fucked with time to be with, hopefully both Cho and Daphne.

The good ting so far though, was that they were a lot closer this time around than they had been the last. As back in the original timeline they hadn't really gotten close until next year, the year in which Dolores Umbridge had taught, rather ineptly, at the school. During which time, Daphne's desire to pass her Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL trumped her aversion to him.

Speaking of Defence Against the Dark Arts class, that was where Harry currently was at the moment, sitting at the back of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom with a bored look on his face as he waited impatiently for the lesson, the last of the semester, to finish. His mind already on what he was going to be doing tonight.

After all Dobby, or rather Dobby One had finished acquiring all of the ingredients Harry needed for his rituals to strengthen his body, which meant that with this being the day before the Winter holidays started, that he could do the ritual tonight, and he had plenty of time to recover, which was ideal really.

Though that being said, looking back on it he did somewhat curse himself in hindsight, after all if he had acquired these ingredients before he came to the past, then he could have saved himself a lot of hassle, time and money, as he would have had all the supplies he needed. Unfortunately though hindsight was a bitch.

"Mr Potter!" The loud, gruff voice of the imposter Moody suddenly shouted, catching Harry's attention as he glanced up only to see a scowl on the scarred Auror's face as he glared at him. "I do hope I'm not interrupting you?!"

Harry blinked at that, before he looked around at the rest of the room, noticing as he did so, that all those present were looking at him, with a couple of the Slytherin's sniggering behind their hands as they saw he was about to get in trouble. No doubt because he had spent the last few minutes staring absentmindedly out of the window, and not paying any attention at all to the ongoing lesson.

"Ermm no…" Harry replied uncertainly as he gave Moody a speculative look.

"Good then perhaps you could explain the best strategy when dealing with a Dark Wizard casting Unforgivable Curse." Moody continued, both his real and is magical eye fixed irritably on Harry, the grizzled man obviously not appreciating Harry's lacklustre participation in his lessons thus far.

"Don't get hit?" Harry replied dryly, with a shrug.

A couple of students laughed at that. Moody however merely rolled his normal eye, his magical eye remaining fixed suspiciously on Harry, or rather on Harry's chest, right about where is heart was. An odd expression appearing the grizzled man's eye as he once again gave Harry an uncertain, evaluating look.

"Droll Potter, very droll. But you're not incorrect." Moody finally replied, his expression hardening as he did so, before he looked around at the rest of the room, his magical eye meanwhile remaining rooted don Harry. "Dodging out of the way is a smart move, especially when you don't know what type of spell is coming at you, or you don't know a sufficient counter, and as you know unforgivable have no simple counter."

Moody turned away as he said that, before he suddenly slammed his fist on Ron's desk as he passed, as if to emphasis his next point. "However quickly dodging could leave you off balance, and open you up to even more attacks. Which is why another method, especially on unstable ground, or unknown territory, is to use transfiguration to create physical defences."

"But I thought you said the Unforgivables, like the Killing Curse, couldn't be blocked?" Ron suddenly spoke up, a confused expression on his face.

"Hand, Weasley." Moody snapped, before he then shook his head. "The Killing Curse cannot be blocked by conventional magical shields. However a physical construct, either a summoned object, or a transfigured one, can block the curse."

Tracey Davis then raised her hand at that, a slight frown on her face as she looked at Moody oddly. "Then shouldn't that mean that clothing should be able block the Killing Curse?"

"Not if it is in physical contact with you." Moody replied easily, continuing down the room now and to the front. "After all the magic can transfer through normal fabric, just as it can pass through magical shields, and tear through thin physical defences. That being said there are certain magic resistant hides, like Dragon Scales and what not, or Goblin forged steel that can block a Killing Curse, due to the nature of the material. However they aren't cheap, certainly not enough for standard Aurors to afford, nor would set of armour like that cover you entirely as it would otherwise limit your movement and leave you vulnerable. No such sets are usually only cuirasses or breastplates, and are very expensive."

Harry didn't bat an eye at that, after all he owned a red Dragon Scale cuirass himself, and so knew how useful it could be, just as he knew how difficult it was to get a hold of them.

"Any more questions?" Moody then asked as he stopped at the front of the classroom, before gazing around at all the watching students.

When no one spoke up, Moody then let lose a grunt, before he waved his hand. "Then go, your homework is to continue working on your five foot essay on defensive tactics when engaging with Dark Wizards. It is due after Christmas, so enjoy your holiday."

There was a low rumble of discontent as the students heard that, before they all started to get up and pack away their books, after which they then filed out of the classroom on mass. Not that the fake Moody gave a damn, as he instead just took a swig of his Polyjuice laced flask and then stomped off in the direction of his office, sending Harry one more close, confused look as he did so, not that Harry noticed as by that point he was pursuing a head of silvery blonde hair.

"So Daphne." Harry said as he slipped away from Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender, the new and growing friendship group that he had somehow formed over the last few weeks, and instead joined Daphne's small group of friends as he did so. Ignoring the suspicious scowl Blaise Zabini gave him, and the amused look Tracey sent his way as he instead looked to Daphne. "Got any plans for Christmas?"

Daphne in response to his innocent question merely rolled her violet eyes, before giving him a part bored, part amused look "Please don't tell me you're about to try and ask me out to the Yule Ball?"

Harry grinned at that. "Nope." He replied, popping the 'p' as he did so, and not missing the faint look of surprising and flash of irritation he could see on Daphne's face at his answer. "Just a friendly question."

"Oh really?" Daphne replied, a bit off balance for the moment, before she quickly recovered. "And since when were we friends."

"Since you could stand to be in my presence for more than a few moments without walking off." Harry replied cheerfully.

"That's only because you follow me." Daphne shot back at him, gesturing to the fact that they were now walking side by side now in the direction of the Slytherin Common Room, not that she minded all that much, not that she was about to admit that.

"That's very presumptuous of you Daph. I mean for all you know I could be just coincidently be walking in the same direction as you." Harry replied easily, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder as he did so.

"You know I would say giving unwanted nicknames was more presumptuous." Daphne replied easily, not all that bothered with being called Daph either, after all it was what her sister and close friends sometimes called her. Still Potter was being irritating, so she would call him out on it. "Besides what business do you have in this direction?" She then continued, noting as she did that neither the Great Hall nor the Gryffindor Common Room were in the direction she was walking, and yes she knew where the Gryffindor Common Room was, literally everyone knew where the four different Common Rooms were, after all children were not the subtlest of people, not even magical ones.

"Oh well, Cho Chang and I are meeting up for our weekly practice session." Harry replied easily, a slight grin playing around his feet as he saw Daphne twitch at that, her violet eyes flickering back to him.

"Cho Chang is tutoring you?" Tracey then interrupted a frown of confusion on her face.

"Well I like to think of it as more of a 'quid pro quo' relationship." Harry said with a shrug, his gaze flicking to Daphne again, when he saw her twitch again as he said relationship.

"And what exactly are you teaching her?" Daphne then asked her violet eyes locking on Harry now, her previous snooty demeanour forgotten for the moment as she tried to will the truth out of him with her eyes.

Ideally she would have preferred to have used some subtle wandless Legilimency on him, however she could still remember what happened to Snape in the dungeons, and her own conclusion about what had actually happened. And although she was very curious about Potter's defences, she wasn't curious enough to test them out herself, after all not only did she not know how he would react if he sensed the intrusion, but she had also seen Snape's reaction, and she could only assume that the former Head of House Slytherin was more experienced in the mind arts than her, if not more skilled. Which again posed the question of just what Harry's defences were like if he could cause such a reaction, and whether there was a chance that she could adapt what he knew and use it to strengthen her own already formidable defences.

"Hmm, oh bits and pieces." Harry replied easily, his smile widening as he gave her is uninformative answer, almost as if he could read her frustration through her deliberately placid expression.

Daphne supressed a frown at the thought of a relative stranger so easily reading her, her hand unconsciously moving up to push her silvery blond hair behind her shoulder as she looked to Harry, her violet eyes on his lips for a moment, before locking with his amused green eyes.

"But anyway, you're obviously busy so I will leave you to it." Harry then continued, his smile widening slightly, as he looked between the group of three Slytherins. "Besides, I'm sure I will see you all around, or at least at the Yule Ball."

"You probably will." Daphne allowed, as the group of four came to a stop, "Though I am curious as to who Hogwart's Fourth Champion managed to trick into going to the Ball with him?"

"Hmm, no one as of yet." Harry replied easily, before he locked eyes with Daphne. "Why are you interested?"

"A Gryffindor and a Slytherin going to the Ball together, it sounds like the start of a bad joke." Daphne said in amusement.

"That isn't a no." Harry shot back at her.

"Neither is it a yes." Daphne replied her lips curving into a smile.

"I suppose not." Harry said with a shrug, before he grinned. "Tell you what, if I do see you there, how about saving me a dance?"

Daphne blinked at that, somewhat surprised and off-guard that he didn't pursue the matter, after all she had been looking forward to some quick-witted back and forth, before she politely declined him. After all, he was cute, but going with him to the dance would not be ideal for her, especially since the blood purists in Slytherin were already arsy about her Veele heritage, the last thing she needed to deal with was more grief for going to the yule Ball with Harry Potter. Someone who many of the former Death Eater children had been brought up to hate.

No, it would be inconvenient for her, and she wasn't fond enough of Potter to bare several months of hassle just for some silly little school Ball. That being said, one dance couldn't hurt. "Go one then, but you better be able to dance."

Tracey stared at the blonde as she heard that, her lips curving into a wide smile as she gleefully looked back and forth between Harry and Daphne.

"You'll just have to wait and see." Harry replied with a wink, before h turned to head off, his amused gaze landing on Tracey for a moment, already knowing what was going through the brunette's mind, after all she had been the pain in the arse that had come up with the dump relationship names, the last time around, including that annoying 'Haphne' tag she used for a few weeks in their sixth year.

That being said, before anymore could be said, Harry gave Daphne another grin meeting her gaze for a moment before he then turned and waltzed off, heading down a different corridor as he did so, leaving Daphne and her bemused friends behind, as the silvery blonde haired girl just watched him go, her violet eyes narrowing at the thought of him spending time with that Chang girl, as oppose to her.

Not that she was entirely sure why she was feeling such frustration, after all she had been the one to reject him, hadn't she?

 **( - )**

 **(With Ron and Hermione, a few minutes earlier)**

"Hey Mione, did you see where he went?" Ron grunted as he pushed through the herd of students heading in the other direction, bobbing and weaving between his year mates as he tried to find the familiar head of messy dark hair that denoted his former best friend.

"No he's gone." Hermione replied irritably, as the last of their year mates swept past them, leaving them alone in the corridor, with the Slytherins having headed down one side, whilst the Gryffindors went down the other.

"Well he didn't pass us, which meant he must have gone the other way." Ron replied with a look of confusion, before his cheeks started to redden and his expression turned into a scowl as he looked down the other side of the corridor where he could see the backs of the last few Slytherin students disappearing around one of the corners at the end of the corridor. "That slimy git, he must have gone with the Slytherins."

"Oh hush Ronald, you don't know that." Hermione shot back irritably, before contrary to her previous words, she swung her bag over her shoulder and began to storm off down the hall in the direction the Slytherins had gone. "Besides what reason would he have to spend time with Slytherins? You know as well as I do that he doesn't get along with any of them."

"What are you talking about? You saw how chummy he's been being with them. Especially that Greengrass bitch, with him always saying 'hi' and smiling at her, it's disgusting!" Ron replied irritably, as he followed after her, dragging his feet as he did so.

"Language Ronald." Hermione snapped, before she looked forward, her brow furrowing, as expletive aside, she too had noticed her friend associating more and more often with the Slytherins. On top of that she had also seen him mingling more with the other students in both Gryffindor and the other Houses, all of which was very different to how he had acted before their minor fallout in November.

Maybe paradoxically she had also noticed that Harry was being more secretive too, as despite spending time with strange people that he didn't used to, he also seemed to disappear quite frequently during the evenings. In fact from what Ron had said he rarely stayed the night in the Gryffindor tower anymore, often leaving his bed unslept in as he went elsewhere, and not for the reasons that first came to mind as the Hogwart's rumour mill would have picked up on it otherwise. Though just where he was actually disappearing off to was a mystery for Hermione, and she hated mysteries.

That being said though, the biggest mystery of all was why their friendship had broken down like it had. After all, sure both herself and Ron hadn't believed his claims about how he didn't put his name it the Goblet of Fire, and judging by the way he had been acting for the last month since the First Task, their disbelief wasn't unwarranted. Their friend had after all changed, and had begun to gain a bit of an ego, pushing aside old friends as he instead revelled in the attention, or at least that is what it seemed like.

Despite their disbelief though, they had decided to be the bigger people and try and make up with him, they had even gone to congratulate him on doing so well on the task without their help, and maybe, in Hermione's case, to question him about the magic he was using. After all Hermione had never heard of Spellbinding before, and ever since she had, she had been trawling through the library trying to find out more about it.

But instead of the reunion she had been expecting, Harry had been spiteful, vulgar and cold, and had rejected their generous olive branch. More than that though, he hadn't made any effort at all when it came to reconciling with them, if anything he was acting as if he was cutting all ties with them permanently. A distinctly un-Harry like thing to do.

It was because of this odd behaviour that Hermione and Ron had decided to investigate a little bit, and find out just what Harry's problem actually was. So far she was of the mind that he was potentially suffering from PTSD or maybe Bipolar, as she had read a book on the subject over the summer, and from memory she thought he might be exhibiting the signs.

Hurrying down the corridor, both Hermione and Ron soon found themselves coming across the backs of Greengrass and her group of friends as they trailed along behind the rest of their Slytherin year mates.

Oddly though they didn't see Harry, instead they just saw the three Slytherin students, one of whom, Tracey, seemed to be teasing Daphne about something or other. Not that the blonde seemed to appreciate it, if the rude hand gesture she was making was any indication.

"Where is he?" Ron muttered as he looked at the back of the students his gaze on the part Veela Greengrass for a moment, before he turned back to Hermione.

"I'm not sure, he keeps disappearing." Hermione replied irritably, knowing as she did that she was missing out on time at the library for this, despite that though she was here. "Ron you might need to borrow the Marauder's Map from Harry's trunk, because we can't find out what his problem is if we can't find him."

Ron grimaced at that. "I don't see why we should even bother, I mean if he wants to be a prick let him. He should come to us begging our forgiveness, it shouldn't be the other way around."

"Yes you're right, but you know how stubborn Harry can be." Hermione sighed, inwardly at least partially agreeing with the ginger haired boy's statement, after all Harry was the one that cut ties not them. "But we should be the bigger people."

Ron nodded at that. "Fine, but I'm not sure where he keeps it."

"Well if not then we can just follow him one day and corner him so he can't leave whilst we sort this out." Hermione replied with another frustrated sigh.

"Honestly I don't know why we are even bothering Mione, he's been an arsehole for weeks now." Ron then continued to grumble, a truculent expression on his face as he continued to walk beside Hermione, before a few minutes later they gave up and turned around, both of them heading towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry and Cho)**

Oblivious to all else that was going on, Harry, after he had broken away from Daphne and her friends, had instead continued on to the abandoned classroom on the Seventh Floor that both Cho and himself had appropriated for their sessions, using several secret passages as short cuts as he did so.

Entering the room, a cheerful smile spread across Harry's face as he saw Cho was already present, a soft smile spreading across the dark haired girl's face as she lowered her wand and stopped practicing some hexes and jinxes, as she instead turned to look at Harry. Her dark eyes twinkling happily as she did so.

"You're early." Harry said easily as he dumped his bag on a nearby desk and walked over to her.

Cho smiled at that. "So what are we doing tonight then?"

"Well you need more practice in drawing runes on a physical surface with your magic, so we'll probably start off with a bit of practice first, and then, well then I can start showing you how to draw runes in the air." Harry replied easily, before he perched himself on the edge of a table, absentmindedly rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and jumper as he did so.

Cho grinned excitedly at that, her mind going back to the display he had done a few weeks ago when he had drawn the rune in the air wandlessly, and had created a lightning bolt. "Sounds good."

"Right." Harry said easily, before he gestured for her to have a go. "We'll stick with element based runes for the moment as they are easier to start with, and then after Christmas we can hopefully get onto the more complicated ones."

Cho nodded at that, before she set to work, her fingers glowing with a soft blue light as she traced a familiar rune on the desk in front of her, with Harry watching on carefully from a metre or so away.

"So have you got any plans for Christmas?" Cho asked carefully, as she finished tracing the Celtic rune for winter, her tongue cutely stick out of her mouth as she did so. Before a grin spread across her face, when after pumping some more magic into the rune, she saw it release a sudden shower of snowflakes.

"Same as most years really, eat too much, and spend time with friends and loved ones." Harry replied with a shrug, a look of faint nostalgia spreading across his face now as he remembered the better times. Back before all the trouble with Oberon and Titania, and before he got wrapped up in his dealing s with the Coven.

At that thought Harry glanced down at his hand, where the silver band with the golden sun emblazoned on it, was on the ring finger of his left hand, the cracked Gaunt Family ring on the finger next to it. Both pieces of magical jewellery hidden from sight by a complicated glamour at the moment.

"What about the Yule Ball? As a Champion aren't you expected to go?" Cho pressed, taking her gaze off of her work now and looking up at Harry as she did so, not noticing the glimmer of nostalgia that quickly flashed across his face, before it vanished, with Harry instead smiling down at the girl.

"Yeah, or at least that's what McGonagall said." Harry replied easily with a shrug. "What about you? Are you going to the Ball?"

"I want to, but I don't want to go by myself." Cho replied carefully, her attention now fully on Harry.

"Oh come on, you're a beautiful girl, surely there are tons of guys who want to take you to the Ball." Harry replied, his emerald eyes meeting Cho's dark eyes, not missing the slightly coy smile on her face as he did so

"A couple of people have asked me, but I've said no. I'm kind of waiting for the right person to ask me." Cho replied, her smile turning slightly nervous as she drew a few steps closer to Harry.

"Really?" Harry asked a grin on his face now as Cho paused a foot or so away from him, her eyes locked on his.

"Yeah, so are you going to stop playing games and ask me?" Cho then said, her expression becoming slightly firmer now as she decided to cut straight to the point, her previous nervousness forgotten as she just forged ahead.

Harry titled his head to the side at that, before he smiled fondly. "So how about it then, do you want to go to the Ball with me?"

"Really, that's how you're going to ask me?" Cho replied her cheeks turning slightly pink, even as she mock huffed.

"Oh would you like a more flamboyant proposal." Harry shot back, the grin back on his face, before within moments his Holly wand was in his hand and miniature fireworks were erupting across the ceiling of the room creating dozens of colourful flower like patterns, and catching Cho's attention, even as Harry closed in on Cho, falling to one knee, with her hands clasped in his own.

"Harry…" Cho muttered, her eyes practically sparkling as she looked down at him, her cheeks now very pink and her heart racing.

"So how about it then, do you want to go to the Ball with me?" Harry then asked, just as nonchalantly as before.

"Arse." Cho replied unable to keep the smile off her face as she slapped him on the shoulder, letting out a half laugh as she did so. "Talk about spoiling the moment."

"So is that a yes?" Harry pressed, a grin on his face as he got back onto his feet, now inches away from the beautiful dark haired girl. With Cho looking slightly up at him, and Harry looking slightly down at her. The impromptu fireworks display overhead, slowly fading as the minor conjurations ran out of magic.

"What do you think?" Cho said softly, before she leaned up and kissed Harry on the cheek, after which she then moved back, leaving Harry wanting more as she then drifted away and turned back to practicing her runes.

"Yes?" Harry asked, his hand moving up to cup his cheek fondly as he watched her wander back to the desk, sending Harry an amused look as she glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Yes idiot." Cho replied with a short laugh, spinning as she did and giving Harry a bright smile, and rolling her eyes. "And you better be able to dance!"

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what did you all think, I have moved the story onto the Yule Ball, which I hope isn't too jarring, on top of which Harry is soon going to undergo so rituals, even as more of his back story is explored.**

 **On top of that the relationships are beginning to develop, even as things move forward in the castle, Harry's presence already causing waves.**

 **That being said I would have had this out sooner, but unfortunately I am also writing another HP story, a crossover with Fairy Tail, which I am really into at the moment.**

 **Hope you all leave a review, thanks for reading.**

 **Greed720.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: So this is an interlude so to speak, as originally I had been planning to have this on either the end of the last chapter or the beginning of the next. In the end though I decided to give it a mini chapter of its own, as an interlude of sorts, as the tone of it doesn't fit with either last chapter or this one.**

 **So yeah, I apologise if you think it is short, but this is the way I decided to do it. Fortunately though next chapter will be back to the usual six thousand word length. So hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _What do you think?" Cho said softly, before she leaned up and kissed Harry on the cheek, after which she then moved back, leaving Harry wanting more as she then drifted away and turned back to practicing her runes._

 _"_ _Yes?" Harry asked, his hand moving up to cup his cheek fondly as he watched her wander back to the desk, sending Harry an amused look as she glanced over her shoulder at him._

 _"_ _Yes idiot." Cho replied with a short laugh, spinning as she did and giving Harry a bright smile, and rolling her eyes. "And you better be able to dance!"_

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 9**

 **( - )**

 **(With Dumbledore, in the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts)**

There was a pensive expression on Dumbledore's face as he sat back in his chair and stared out of the window of his office, his blue eyes fixed on nothing in particular as he instead just stared out of the window and across Hogwart's frost covered ground, spending the first day of the Christmas break just relaxing after a stressful few months.

And they had been damn stressful, as an awful lot of things had been happening of late, most of which was highly concerning, and could potentially be the herald of even darker things to come. After all not only had a group of former Death Eaters walked out in the open once more, donned in their black robes and skull like masks, attacking one of the Quidditch World Cup's main campsites in the middle of the night with explosive hexes and fire. With them having acted at a time in which many of the Quidditch fans were in the midst of celebrating the end of the World Cup and Ireland's victory.

IT was only fortunate that no one had died in the attack, and that there had been only minor injuries. Save of course for the psychological damage caused to the muggle family, whose names he couldn't remember off the top if his head, that were assaulted by the crowd of Death Eaters, but that damage was negligible as a couple of Memory Charms sorted it all out so they wouldn't have a clue what had happened.

Despite the lack of casualties though, the events of that night in summer had had an impact, on both Magical Britain and the wider Magical World, as the Dark Mark had also been cast above the site of the international event, signalling to Wizarding Britain, and the world at large, that a change was coming, and that the darker, crueller, more callous forces of this mystical world of theirs, were on the rise.

It also signalled that the established Magical Governments, Ministries and regimes would soon be threatened by a resurgence in those who didn't believe in the separation of magical and muggles, but in a more primordial world, one in which those with magic ruled over those without.

Already he had been getting reports, through his position as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, that there had been a noticable increase in illegal activity throughout the Old World, the heart of the magical civilization, and the area with the highest magical population in the world.

And it wasn't just the usual type of criminal activity either, such as the rascals that used magic to create and sell counterfeit goods to muggles, or the rapscallions who used confundus charms on the non-magicals and they conned them out of their hard-earned money and possessions. No, those activities although bad, but manageable. As too were the magical on magical crimes, though they were a lot rarer due to muggles being easier targets, and the protections most wizarding homes and properties had.

No, the reports he had been receiving over the last few months was that there was an increase in muggle baiting, and magical assaults on muggles and their establishments, and not just from wizards and witches either. No, some of the darker magical beings and demi-humans, like the vampires, ghouls, werewolves and succubus were also getting more rowdy, and less cautious. With their predations becoming more and more obvious, to the point at which even the muggles had started to realise something was wrong.

In fact there had been a day light attack in Bulgaria just the other day, some kind of gang war between a Court of vampires and a Pack of werewolves that had escalated and spread onto the streets. So far the Bulgarian Ministry of magic had done a good job covering it up as some kind of 'muggle terror attack', but at least six score people were dead, and hundreds of others had been injured, and the tensions were only becoming more heightened.

Closer to home though, in one of the most powerful Magical Communities, things weren't quite that bad, but there was still an undercurrent of tension. Both in the Ministry and the Wizengamot, between the many different political factions, all vying for power an influence, and trying to use this recent instability to further their own goals, and also in the wider magical community.

One only needed to walk through Diagon Alley to see that, after all memories of Voldemort's reign of terror were still fresh in the memories of much of the wizarding population. With some people dreading the return of such carnage, whilst others, a vocal minority, could think of little else but a return to those chaotic times.

Since summer things had only become tenser, and the events of the last few months were not putting Dumbledore's mind at ease. After all he had hoped that an event like the Tri Wizard tournament could work as a salve to the growing dissatisfaction, a distraction and a sign of the strength and unity of the different magical governments and schools.

Which it might of, had it not been turned on its head the moment Harry Potter's name came out of the Goblet of Fire, with the young, famous wizard, a household name for many, bringing a lot of scrutiny onto the tournament and the organisers. After all he was underage, it wasn't supposed to be possible for him to be chosen as one of the Champions, especially since the tournament had gained an infamous reputation in the past for how dangerous and deadly some of the tasks were.

But he had, and the organisers had had to scramble to save face, as Harry's naming as the Fourth Champion, the second one for Hogwarts, had nearly turned the entire thing into a farce. With this having been made worse by the dreck the Daily Prophet had been peddling, courtesy of that attention hungry, harpy, Rita Skeeter.

Fortunately though the boy showed himself to be made of sterner stuff than many, even Dumbledore, had thought, as he had handily won the First Task, which was especially important as the Boy Who Lived had become a symbol for the fall of the Dark Lord and the collapse of his ideology.

Of course the boy's actions in and of themselves had also raised quite a few questions in Dumbledore's mind, after all he had shown a proficiency and skill with magic far beyond his age, or the skillset he was supposed to have.

More than that though he had shown knowledge of very esoteric branches of magic, like Alchemy and Spell Binding. Branches of magic that were very powerful, but also very open to abuse, hence why much of the knowledge of the capabilities of these branches magic, and how to use them had been supressed where possible by the different Ministries of the world, and the teaching of them banned.

Just how Harry Potter had truly learned them was a mystery, and a worrying one at that, as although not strictly banned they weren't something you could learn from a book bought at your local bookshop. It was something Dumbledore had decided to unravel when he could, unfortunately though he had not had the chance to speak to the boy one on one, and also couldn't really summon him to his office for a private chat during the middle of the tournament either, as it could be construed by some as cheating.

A part of him wished he had pressed the issue back in the tent after the First Task, but at the time he had decided that maintaining a friendly relationship with the boy was better than alienating him by forcing the answers out of him. It was a decision he stood by, even if a part of him wanted to tear the answers out of the boy's mind, fortunately though he was far more sensible than Severus and had more restraint too.

Suffice to say things had been stressful for Dumbledore, both home and away, and that had not been made better by him having to deal with Severus Snape making a fool of himself. The Potion's Master had let his disdain for Harry Potter's father get the best of him, and had acted out, and in a way which Dumbledore couldn't cover up or forgive.

Severus was just lucky that he was such a valuable asset, as he had had to go to a lot of trouble and call in a lot of favours to keep the man here. Something he hoped was worth the effort, as some of those favours had been valuable, and his resistance to Severus's dismissal had somewhat weakened his positon as Headmaster in the eyes of the school's Governors.

A sigh left Dumbledore's lips as he once again began to think about everything that had happened, and at the necessity of the actions he had taken, what with the growing unrest around the magical world, unrest that had long dwelled beneath the surface of the different magical societies, but which was now emerging and becoming more prevalent.

Things were changing fast, and all Dumbledore could do was adapt and prepare. Already he was considering reassembling the Order of the Phoenix, because although there had been no sign of Tom Riddle's return, there were other darker things in the world than him.

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry, in the Chamber of Secrets)**

Looking around at the now brightly lit chamber, an appreciative whistle left Harry's lips as he eyed up what Dobby had done with the place now that he had finished sorting through all of the crap they had salvaged, i.e. stolen from the Room of Requirement.

With the stone floors, walls and ceilings having all been cleaned and dusted, which was made all the better now that the Chamber was lit by the dreary green glow as before, with it instead having burning braziers lining the walls, each one giving off a merry glow as it filled the Chamber with light, making it look distinctly less eerie. Which of course somewhat ruined the effect Salazar Slytherin, the original creator, had likely been hoping to achieve, not that either Harry or Dobby gave a damn, that guy was dead after all, and they were the current occupants.

As well as the now clean floors and wall, and an improvement to its lighting though, the Basilisk's rotting remains had been cleaned up. With the massive, halfway rotted corpse having been moved from where it had previously been, lying across the floor, half in the large pool of water at the far end of the Chamber. With what little that could be harvested from the deadly creature's remains having been taken and stored in jars, jars which were currently sat on one of a number of expansive shelves of ingredients that Dobby had set up against one of the walls.

As for what couldn't be harvested, well currently the giant snakes sixty odd foot skeleton was hanging from the ceiling via wires, the giant snake's remains adding to the distinctly snake themed decoration Salazar Slytherin had obviously had in mind when he had decided to build the secret chamber, though maybe not as obviously evil and pretentious as had probably been intended. Instead it gave the chamber more of an eccentric feeling to it, then clearly malevolent.

Still Harry thought it looked good, with it kind of brining the place together.

On top of that Dobby had also fully furnished the Chamber now, with a large wooden, double bed, a dresser and wardrobes no doubt already filled with Harry's clothing, a full twelve foot dining table with matching leather padded chairs, and a number of other nice pieces as well as some delightful tapestries, rugs and wall hangings he had somehow acquired, all of which gave the Chamber a somewhat homely feel to it. As oppose to the lair like feeling it had had before.

Wandering through all of this, Harry quickly walked to the far end of the Chamber, where he could see Dobby had taken the liberty of setting up his workshop, just in front of the large pool of water in front of Salazar's statue. With it being set up similar to how it had been in the original timeline, just before they had left, with shelving around the walls, holding upon it a number of books, and ingredients, most of which Dobby had likely salvaged from the Room of Requirement.

Though some of the ingredients he had also bought as Harry had ordered him too, whilst others bits and pieces, like some of the rarer and more valuable books, Harry had brought with him.

As well as the shelves, there were also a number of blackboards that had been set up along the walls, all of which had been wiped clear in preparation for Harry to use them as and when he saw fit. After all when it came to using something as meticulous as runes it was better to perfect what you were doing in chalk on a blackboard before you carved it anywhere and made it permanent, he'd seen what could happen if you powered up an incorrectly drawn runes after all, and suffice to say, it was messy.

In the midst of all of this, on the swept stone floor, there was a large runic circle which had been carved into the chamber floor, one which Dobby had created for the ritual, and which was just waiting for Harry to use it. Ironically it was in the exact same place as the one Harry had used to come back to the past. Hopefully this ritual would be as successful as that one had been.

Smiling as he saw this, Harry then stepped over the runic circle, eyeing it as he did so to make sure there were no mistakes, not that the mistrusted Dobby, but mainly because of the horrendous side-effects that even a minor mistake in a ritual could cause, which was many times worse than messing up a normal runic spell due to the complexity involved, and the power that was required to fuel a ritual.

Fortunately though he saw no issues with either the inscribed circle, or the in collection of eclectic ingredients that Dobby had already prepared ready for Harry to use, all of them in bowls and spread over one of the worktables the House Elf had set up for him.

Noticing all of this, Harry's smile faltered slightly when he looked away from the different components of the ritual, as he instead noticed the other worktable, or more importantly what was on it.

Walking over to the table, Harry's emerald green eyes trailed over the desiccated, grey skinned body that lay upon it. His gaze shifting over the familiar, heavily damaged body, one which had been in stasis since Harry had first arrived. Though the fact he recognised it, was probably not all that surprising, after all this had once been his body.

Trailing his hand over the cold, grey, unmoving flesh, Harry's eyes came to rest upon the torso, or rather on what had once been the corpse's torso, as there was now a hole that had been cut into it, with the ribcage having also been broken open revealing the shrivelled and grey organs within, or at least all the organs but the heart, as in the place where the heart should have been there was instead an empty, metal, cage like contraption.

"Master Harry?" Dobby spoke up from behind Harry, causing the dark haired wizard to half turn as he saw the House Elf, the original one, and not the younger one that existed in this timeline, appearing behind him with a soft crack. "Are you ready?"

"Nearly." Harry replied softly as he looked back at the body, his gaze moving from the metal cage in its chest to the vacant, glazed over eyes, his hand absentmindedly coming up and closing the eyes so they no longer vacantly stared up at him, with rigour mortis being a non-issue due the stasis spell preserving the body to what it had been like when he had first arrived.

"Have you decided what you want to do with the body?" Dobby asked after a few moments of Harry not moving, Dobby's gaze shifting blankly over to his Master's former body.

"Keep it for now, it was a good vessel and served me well." Harry replied quietly as he pulled his hands back, and instead stuck them in his trouser pockets.

"But now you have your original body back, you no longer need a homunculus, or another body to host you, nor do I think it would last all that long if you tried to use it again, the stress of travelling back to the past was far too much…." Dobby said, a frown on his face, and his golf ball sized green eyes narrowed in confusion, not really understanding his Master's attachment to the soulless body on the worktable, one which had been created for a single purpose, a purpose which it had now fulfilled.

"True, it's far more compatible." Harry replied as he took his right hand out of his pocket and clenched and unclenched it, feeling the power flowing just beneath the surface of his skin as he did so. "But it's also weaker, frailer, more easily damaged than my previous one?"

"For now." Dobby acknowledged, before he shrugged. "But that's what the rituals are for, to physically strengthen your new body's durability and physical attributes."

Harry nodded at that, before he finally turned away, instead wandering back over to the table with the ingredients on it, scooping up the Elder Wand from where it lay on the work surface as he did so, the familiar, knobbly length of wood feeling comfortable in his hand as he eyed up the different components of magical creatures in front of him. Items which included the heart of a dragon, the horn of a Unicorn and the tail feathers of a Thunderbird, among other stranger and expensive items.

Rituals, they truly were a complex art, and a dangerous one at that, as they allowed the wizard or witch using them to gain power from the sacrifice of magical creatures, allowing them to usurp that power for their own ends. Be it to amplify a spell, enhance a body, or even manipulate reality. It was an art without limits, one which was powered through the death and destruction of magical creatures, which was also why it was so dangerous.

"Let's begin." Harry muttered, before he began to get to work, using his wand, a silver knife and a mortar and pestle to prepare, slice and grind up the different ingredients as required, whilst Dobby set about filling the carved channels of the runic circle with mercury. The small elf using a large jug to do so as he danced over the circle, making sure not to accidently step on it as he instead weaved through the unmarked rock that dotted the circle in between the inscribed lines.

It was whilst Dobby was doing this, that Harry began to setup the rest of the ritual, being meticulous with the measurements of the dozen or so ingredients, as he put a small pile of each in several set areas within the circle, taking the same amount as care as Dobby was as he did so.

It was about half an hour later that the two finished, with Harry laying the last finishing touches as he emptied a vial of crimson red liquid into a pewter bowl, which he then proceeded to leave on the worktable, a Unicorn hair brush lying next to it.

"Ok Dobby." Harry said as he began to strip of his clothing unashamedly, before he walked to the centre of the circle, where there was a space for a man to lie down. "You know what to do next."

Dobby nodded at that, before he grabbed the pewter bowl and brush and began to daub Harry's body with it, painting precise markings on it ones which complimented the runes in the rest of the runic circle.

After which, when Harry was completely covered from head to toe in crimson markings he carefully left the circle, not daring to use magic in case it disrupted the magic of the ritual and ended up causing it to back fire, and the blow up the entire chamber, killing the pair of them in the process.

"It is all ready for you to begin, Master Harry!" Dobby called out when he left the circle, his hands cupped in front his mouth as he did so.

Harry didn't reply to that, as he instead concentrated, extending his fingers so the tips were just hovering over the mercury filled channels of the circle. The silvery liquid turning a dark, bloody red colour as Harry began to channel his magic into it, with what looked like red lightning crackling along his fingertips, the glowing red colour spreading across the entirety of the circle within moments, including Harry's body as the daubed runes began to glow as well.

It was as this was happened, that the small piles of magical creature components dotted around the intricately drawn circle, all bursting into fire.

Watching on from the side, Dobby could only look away as he saw the fire turn red before it spread outwards, flowing along the carved channels that made up the circle, and closing in on Harry who was lying in the centre. His Master's body soon disappearing from view as it was consumed by what looked like red fire, a loud screaming sound filling the Chamber of Secrets as it did so.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So yeah, I am guessing some can see why I didn't include this with the last chapter, it didn't really fit in with the rest did it. Then again that might just be my way of thinking, either way this is the chapter. Sorry it was a little sort, but fortunately the next one will be back to usual.**

 **Also as for the chapter I am sure it has raised quite a few questions. For one it goes a bit into the expanded HP verse I am trying to develop. It also sets out a bit more of Dumbledore's character as I have tried to stay away from the evil, manipulative, chess master, greater good Dumbledore, and instead paint him in my own light as a flawed character who has both good traits and bad traits, traits he had acquired both through the nature of the world he had grown up in and the experiences he has had. I hope that came across.**

 **As for the bit with Harry, well I am sure that raised a lot of questions, suffice to say as the story develops more and more of Harry's backstory will be revealed and explored, as to will the events that shaped him into the person he is today. Including bits that are similar to what happened in Zaterra'09's story, Paid in Blood, but also very different as I have other things I want to try out and play around with.**

 **So yeah, other than that thanks for reading, and I hope you all leave a review. Next chapter will be back to normal length and will involve Christmas and the Yule Ball, which will definitely be interesting to write, and will have a lot of dialogue and character interactions, something I know this chapter was lacking. Though that was partially because Dumbledore was by himself in his room, and realistically most people do not say their thoughts out loud, and instead just mull things over in their own heads.**

 **See you next time.**

 **Greed720.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: So here I am with the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it and leave a comment. I ended up beasting this one out to distract myself from trying to write an Elder Scrolls/ Percy Jackson story, as seriously I need to focus haha.**

 **Thanks for reading, make sure to leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _Harry didn't reply to that, as he instead concentrated, extending his fingers so the tips were just hovering over the mercury filled channels of the circle. The silvery liquid turning a dark, bloody red colour as Harry began to channel his magic into it, with what looked like red lightning crackling along his fingertips, the glowing red colour spreading across the entirety of the circle within moments, including Harry's body as the daubed runes began to glow as well._

 _It was as this was happened, that the small piles of magical creature components dotted around the intricately drawn circle, all bursting into fire._

 _Watching on from the side, Dobby could only look away as he saw the fire turn red before it spread outwards, flowing along the carved channels that made up the circle, and closing in on Harry who was lying in the centre. His Master's body soon disappearing from view as it was consumed by what looked like red fire, a loud screaming sound filling the Chamber of Secrets as it did so._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 10**

 **( - )**

 **(In the Chamber of Secrets, a few days later)**

Opening his eyes and taking a deep breath, Harry found himself sprawled out on his large, four poster bed, his sweat covered body only loosely covered by his quilt, which made him feel quite cold and uncomfortable actually as the sweat cooled down, making him feel clammy.

Shifting in his bed as he did this, Harry moved his head to the side, looking through the open curtains of his four poster bed and out at his workshop, his bed having recently been set up in the centre of the large, cavernous Chamber of Secrets, a couple of dozen feet from the charred runic circle that he had used only a few days previously.

The reason of course being that he had been pretty much unable to move for the last few days, as his body had been wracked with pain, and his magic had been sluggish and unresponsive. Which considering the nature and complexity of the blood ritual he had just been through, perhaps wasn't all that surprising. In fact it had gotten so bad that the two Dobby's, the older and the younger, had had to take turns, or rather fight over, feeding him as his own limbs had been too shaky and weak to do so.

Suffice to say it was an embarrassing and humiliating positon to be in.

Still it had been all been worth it in the end, after all now, after a few days of recovery, he felt stronger than ever and could feel the potent magic flowing through the highly condensed muscles in his body, flowing through an entire new, artificial circulatory system that had had created for himself, allowing his magic to suffuse his body completely, empowering it far beyond normal.

Pushing himself up, Harry's arms only shook slightly now as he managed to get himself up into a sitting positon. It had been a couple of days now, a couple of day of doing nothing but lying in bed being read to and looked after by one or other of the Dobby's. More than that though it meant he had been absent from school for a number of days too, enough to draw suspicion from those watching, and with the Yule Ball only days away his absence was probably even more noticeable, and would continue to become more and more noticeable the longer he was away.

Which is why he was making a move now, as after a few moments of preparation he pushed himself up, and then shifted his hips so his legs were dangling over the side of the bed, his feet brushing the cold stone floor.

"Dobby." Harry called out his voice slightly hoarse from lack of use as he did so.

"You're up Master Harry." Dobby stated simply moments after he arrived in the chamber with a crack, handing a now familiar red vial over to Harry, one he knew to be a pain relieving potion. A short term solution to his aches and pains, but a welcome one none the less, as long as he didn't overdose himself and become addicted, like a number of other witches and wizards he had known.

"Only just." Harry replied with a grumble, down the vial, before he pushed himself up onto his feet stumbling for a moment as he did, before he caught himself. "I underestimated the backlash of the rituals."

Dobby hummed at that, before nodding, the little creature heading over to a dresser at the side of the room a she did so. After which he then began rootling about, pulling out some clothes. "I've never seen you act like this before, the couple of times you did this ritual before you were in pain, but only for a couple of hours, a day at most."

"Yes, well I suspected it would have been slightly worse this time, what with my current body being younger than the ones I've used before, and not artificial like the last couple. On top of that I'm more compatible with it, meaning that I am not as disassociated from the nervous system and what not whilst I'm using it." Harry replied, raising his arms as he did, even as he allowed Dobby to help him pull on a baggy red T-shirt, a blue long-sleeved jumper, a pair of grey jeans, a pair of brown leather boot, with him then tugging on a black parka coat with a fur lined hood over the top.

"You're just guessing now aren't you?" Dobby shot back at him, his large green eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I prefer to think of them as educated guesses." Harry replied sarcastically before he began to stretch, his back and arms cracking as he did so, even as he felt the strength and power flowing just below his skin, he felt stronger, much more so than he had been, but his limbs were still aching slightly, in spite of the potion. "It makes me wish I had used another Homunculus body."

"But your original one is a lot stronger, and far more compatible. Surely dealing with some aches and pains for a few days is worth that." Dobby said, his tone slightly bored as he heard Harry's whining, more than used to it after all these decades.

Whenever his Master got himself injured, or met with failure in his research, which happened quite regularly, he would mope about for a few days, moaning and complaining, just generally bitching about life. Thankfully though he quickly got over his disappointment or irritation very swiftly, and moved on to the next project. But still it could be annoying, especially when he had to humour his Master.

"I know, I know." Harry returned as he stopped stretching, and instead wandering over to his worktable, ignoring the scorched runic circle that covered the ground, as he instead wandered over to one of his worktables, his eyes flicking to the assortment of knickknacks on it. Including his Holly wand, his Ebony Wand, the Horcrux free Diadem, his Resurrection Stone ring and his other ring, the one forged out of a rare, silvery metal called mithril, with the crest of a golden sun resplendent on it, his Coven Ring.

Rolling his shoulders, Harry quickly grabbed his most precious items, strapping the Elder Wand onto the wand holster on his right forearm, even as he put the Resurrection Stone onto his right ring finger, and the Coven Ring onto the finger next to that one, with him then slipping his Holly wand into a holster on his left forearm, both of them hidden from view by his jumper and coat, but still reachable with just a flick of his wrist.

With that done, Harry then looking down at the ring on his right hand, the Gaunt Family ring, he knew where it was at this time, and more importantly he knew what it was. He would need to get it sooner rather than later, after which he could then burn it in Fiendfyre, destroying the Horcrux and the ancient Peverell artefact, after all the ring was too dangerous for there to be two of them. Plus the last thing he wanted was Dumbledore getting it, and then noticing that there were two of them. That would be distinctly problematic.

Still that was a problem for another time, at present he had more immediate things on his mind. His plots for dealing Voldemort and his minions could wait for a day or two, he still had time, besides they weren't his priority, nor were they the reason he came back to the past. Instead they were just a persistent nuisance he would need to take steps to keep off his back at some point, or at least before they became stronger and more problematic.

With that said Harry turned back to Dobby, rolling his shoulders again as he did so, before he eyed the diminutive elf. "Can you give me a lift up top, I'm pretty hungry?"

Dobby rolled his eyes in response to that, a common action for the elf, before he then walked forward and grabbed Harry's arm, before moments later he disappeared with a crack, taking Harry with him as he slipped through the anti-apparition wards around Hogwart's with ease.

 **( - )**

 **(In the Great Hall, a few minutes later)**

It was a few minutes later that Harry walked stiffly into the great hall, noticing as he did that there were still several dozen students hanging around having a late breakfast, all of them out of uniform and wearing their own clothing, as oppose to school uniform. Which wasn't surprising considering it currently the Christmas holidays, which meant classes were over and they were no longer required to wear their stuffy, and uncomfortable uniforms.

Looking around the room as he entered Harry noted he was getting a few curious looks from some of the students present, but only for a moment before they turned back to what they were doing previously.

Obviously his several day absence had not caused as much of disturbance as he had feared, no doubt that was because it was the holidays and all the other students were more interested in the upcoming Yule Ball than wondering why they hadn't seen Harry in the great hall for a couple of days.

"There you are!" Dean Thomas said loudly as he saw Harry, catching his attention as he looked to the side of the large room and saw that Dean, Seamus, Parvati and Lavender were all hanging about at the Gryffindor House table, all of them in the midst of a leisurely breakfast. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Been busy." Harry replied easily as he rolled his shoulders again before sitting down at the table, shrugging his coat off as he did so before he started dishing out his breakfast, quickly piling up a massive mound of food upon his plate. "Had the Second Task to think about didn't I?"

"Suppose so, so does that mean that you solved the clue in the golden egg, you know all that wailing?" Dean replied with a nonchalant, shrug, eying Harry's mound of food as he did so.

"Yep, wasn't that difficult." Harry nodded as he finished his task and started to eat, pausing as he did so, his eyes flickering around the partially filled great hall before adding on. "I'll tell you about it later on, when there's not so many people around."

"Yeah that's fair, you don't want one of the foreign students to hear and tell their champion." Seamus nodded along sagely even as Harry once again dug into his breakfast.

"I'm sure they wouldn't, not when there are more interesting things going on." Lavender interrupted with a smirk, getting a several bemused looks from Harry, Dean and Seamus as she did so.

"The Yule Ball…" Lavender continued, her tone bordering on patronizing. "It's only like two days away…"

"Oh yeah," Dean nodded. "I almost forgot about that."

"How could you forget about it, it's the most important event of the year?" Lavender asked completely scandalized.

"I like your priorities Lavender." Harry spoke up dryly, before he eyed the grinning Seamus and Dean. "Besides you know as well as I that they both know about it, they're just pretending not to as neither of them have a date."

"Hey I have a date!" Seamus said loudly, before flushing as he saw the others looking at him.

"Really who?" Lavender asked in surprise.

"Sophie Roper…" Seamus replied uncomfortably after a few moments of silence, mentioning one of the other girls in their year in Gryffindor, a pleasant girl but one who faded into the background due to her meek, wallflower like, personality, and commitment to the many clubs and societies she was a member of in the school.

"Really you and Sophie?" Lavender asked a shark like grin on her face.

"Yeah, well Dean's going with that Hufflepuff girl, Lily Moon!" The now red faced Seamus deflected, his gaze flickering over to Dean, who also went a little red in the cheeks at the attention.

"So Dean's dating a Puff." Parvati said gleefully as she looked over at the tall, dark-skinned boy.

"We're not dating," Dean grumbled, before he went even redder. "We're both in the school choir, and well she mentioned nobody had asked her, and so, well, so I kind of did…" He then trailed off lamely.

"Of course you did…" Lavender replied sarcastically, before throwing him an exaggerated wink.

"Wait, you're in the school choir?" Seamus asked Dean, his best mate, incredulously.

"Fuck off, it's actually pretty fun!" Dean replied defensively, before the two of them began to bicker as Seamus tried to mock him and Dean tried to deflect attention away from himself, or defend himself.

Watching all of this Harry could not help but smile, it was all so normal. He had missed out on this friendly bantering the first time around, as he had somewhat isolated himself by only hanging out with Ron and Hermione, never really giving the other students in his year a chance. It was a pity really, as they all had their own quirks and peculiarities, and were all actually pretty easy to get on with if you put in the effort to befriend them.

Plus none of them had betrayed him, like Ron and Hermione, though that might have be because three of them were killed in the lead up to, or during the first battle of Hogwarts, whilst Parvati fled the country before any of the fighting really took place with her family, heading out of Europe entirely, before later settling out there quite happily, or at least that was what he had heard. Still that was in a future that never happened, this time around Harry would put a little effort into making sure they all had happier lives this time around.

"Hey what are you grinning about Potter?" Dean suddenly said, looking over to the Fourth Hogwart's Champion. "You're starting off the dance with the other Champions aren't you? Who are you taking?"

"I bet that's what he's really been doing the last couple of days, working up the balls to ask someone." Seamus added on with a grin.

"Oh please compared to you two he's a catch." Lavender spoke up in Harry's defence, before she flushed as she realised what she had just said.

"So are you going with anyone?" Parvati asked, ignoring Lavender's red face as she instead focused on Harry, trying to tease out some gossip worthy material from him.

Harry paused as he heard that, his gaze flicking around to the others on the table in amusement, before he shrugged. "Yeah, I asked Cho Chang to go with me, and she said yes."

"Cho Chang, nice." Dean nodded sagely, sending Harry a conspiratorial grin as he did so. "She's hot."

Harry rolled his eyes as he heard that, but didn't deny the fact that Cho was in fact very hot. Instead he just looked over to Lavender and Parvati, both of whom were giggling and whispering to each other, no doubt already planning on spreading the gossip. It was all so very high school, but then again they were all teenagers at school, including Harry, at least biologically speaking, if not mentally.

 **( - )**

 **(About half an hour later)**

"But anyway, ladies, gents, I think that's me done for breakfast." Harry said about half an hour later, finishing off his meal and occasionally chipping into the conversation as the group of fourth years continued to chatter amongst each other, whiling away the morning talking about their plans for the week, the upcoming Yule Ball and the future Tasks.

With Harry having decided to make his move when he noticed that Cho had wandered into the great hall now, grabbing a few pieces of food from the table as she did so, before she looked over to the Gryffindor table, catching Harry's eye. Something told Harry that she had been told he was here, and was here probably by one of the Ravenclaws that had left the room after he arrived, and had come down to speak with him.

"See you later Potter!" Seamus nodded at him, before he smirked when he saw Cho waiting by the main doors. "Have a good time, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"You say that like you've done anything with a girl before." Harry retorted easily, getting a loud "oi!" from Seamus and a snort of laughter from Dean, even as the dark skinned boy began mocking the Irish wizard, seizing the opportunity Harry had given him to get some pay back.

"I'll catch you later." Harry nodded once more, pulling on his coat and ignoring Parvati and Lavender's giggling as he instead headed over to where Cho was standing, his gaze trailing over the rest of the hall as he did so. Noticing as he did that there were nowhere near as many 'Support Cedric Diggory/ Potter stinks' badges as there had been, and that the Hufflepuff table was surprisingly subdued. Though considering that Cedric was still in St Mungo's suffering from horrific burns, courtesy of his dragon, maybe that wasn't surprising.

In fact from what Lavender had mentioned at breakfast he probably wouldn't be making it to the Yule Ball and might not be out until mid-January at the earliest.

Not that Harry gave that much of a damn, he barely knew Cedric, certainly not enough to be agonising over his injuries. Besides he would live, and who knew maybe he would be forced to withdraw from the tournament because of his injuries. That would definitely stop him from being murdered.

Harry paused at that thought, he really should probably start getting about implementing his plan to deal with the situation. After all he might have come back for two specific individuals, but he very much doubted Voldemort would leave him alone.

That being said, he might not know the location of all of the Dark Lord's Horcruxes, the Goblet of Helena Hufflepuff, being the only one he never found, even in the future, but he did have a pretty good plan in mind for dealing with the Dark Lord, one that would hopefully avoid direct confrontation with the older and more powerful wizard.

And yes Harry could admit to himself that Voldemort was more powerful than him magically speaking, and had more experience than him and was also more naturally talent with Dark Magic too. Now Harry was no weakling, not by a long shot, but wizards like Voldemort and Dumbledore, they were on a whole other level. They were once in several generation prodigies, and Harry, for all of his ability, was not on the same level. Not all people were born equal after all, not in the sense of magic and talent that is.

Shaking these thoughts off, Harry brushed his concerns away for the moment as he instead approached Cho, a brilliant smile on his face at the familiar sight of the girl.

"Hey you, I've not seen you in a while. I thought you might have done a runner." Cho smiled at him.

"Ha, as if." Harry shook his head, before he chuckled, still walking a little stiffly, but not as much as before as he sidled next to Cho, even as they began to head out of the hall and away from prying eyes of the many nosey students that were still in the hall. "I was just a little busy preparing for the trials ahead."

"You mean the Second Task? Did you work out the clue?" Cho asked brightly, her smile widening as they headed for the classroom they usually used for Harry's tutoring sessions.

"Yeah," Harry replied easily, not lying but not telling the whole truth either. "It's pretty interesting really."

"And?" Cho asked as they headed upstairs, her eyes burning with typical Ravenclaw curiousity. "You're not going to leave me hanging are you?"

"Maybe." Harry laughed, loving the way her face cutely scrunched up, partly in irritation and partly in amusement.

That being said his smile did waver slightly when he saw the familiar figure of Mad-Eye Moody, or rather Barty Crouch Junior stump past him, a glower on his face, even as he sent Harry a suspicious look, his spinning, magical eye once again roving over Harry's body before it came to a rest on his chest.

"That man always gives me the creeps." Cho muttered as the two of them passed by Moody, with her waiting until they were out of hearing range.

"For good reason." Harry muttered, that was another thing he would need to deal with. Though not yet, for his plan to work he needed the imposter Moody to stay where he was for now, and to carry on what he was doing. Though considering how dangerous the man was, Harry was so very tempted just to kill him, especially since he found himself getting more and more uncomfortable around Moody, especially that magical eye of his, the full abilities of which Harry had never fully worked out. After all the divisions between Harry and Dumbledore meant that he never really got to know the man on a personal level, or at all really, save in passing.

"Hmm." Cho hummed, her dark eyes on Harry's face as she noticed the tightening muscles on his face, only for her to smile a few moments later. "But anyway, you were telling me about the next task?"

"You're insatiable, I hope you know that?" Harry laughed, bumping Cho's hip with his own, which made Cho laugh in turn, even as they made it to the familiar classroom and headed inside.

"Well if you think that, then maybe I shouldn't share my breakfast with you." Cho hummed, even as she lay the pilfered food out on one of the scattered tables, the mid-morning sunshine streaming in through the windows, lighting up the room, whilst also giving them a glorious view of the snowy school grounds and frozen lake. "Because I was thinking we could have a picnic, sort of?"

Harry smiled at that, glad that he was still hungry, in spite of the large meal he had just had, something for which he had the ritual to thank for. "Sounds wonderful."

Cho rolled her eyes at that, though she did smile widely, even as she took a seat opposite to the one Harry took. "But first, the Second Task, you were about to tell me about it?"

"Fine." Harry mock sighed, before he began to tell her about the merpeople's song, and how they would take what he 'sorely missed' into the depths and he would have to get it back within an hour. "It's all a ruse of course, basically they are going to put someone in stasis and stick them under the water, I doubt it would be an object or something that arbitrary after all, and then I'll have to find a way down there to free them, and then get back to the surface before the time is up. And if I don't, well then the merpeople will drag them to the surface and I'll get docked points, not that that'll happen of course."

"Sounds intense." Cho muttered thoughtfully, before she looked up at Harry her eyes sparkling. "Have you thought of a way to do it yet? Because off the top of my head I remember that there is a spell called the Bubble Head charm that can allow you to breath under water? Or if you're feeling bold you could do some minor Human Transfiguration to give yourself gills, webbed feet, or webbed toes. There is even a plant we learned about in Herbology this year called Gilly Weed, but it's foreign and not easy to come by."

Harry smiled as he heard this, his green eyes twinkling as he saw the clever Ravenclaw come up with a number of workable solutions within minutes. Then again his future wife was a brilliant witch, and was truly deserving of being in the House of the clever.

"Or maybe some kind of submersible that you enchant to propel you through the water, but that might have an issue with air, unless you use one of your runes to create some controlled wind, and then devise some sort of circulation system…" Cho trailed off, before her cheeks went a little red when she saw Harry smiling at her. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just I forgot how brilliant you can be." Harry replied with a smile, which just made Cho go even more red faced as she looked away.

"S-so, have you got any idea of what you're going to do yet?" Cho said a few moments later, still a little pink, but otherwise quite happy.

"Human Transfiguration, I was going to give myself gills and webbed hands and feet, then propel myself through the water with magic." Harry shrugged easily, having already thought of this and what he would do. It was just a pity his Animagus form wasn't one that thrived in the water, then again he wasn't sure he wanted to go advertising his form around, especially since a person Animagus form reflect the nature of that person's soul and their personality, and suffice to say Harry wasn't proud of his form, or what it represented about him.

"So you're a bold one then." Cho replied with a smile, before her lips curled upwards and her soft smile turned wicked. "And what about this person that you'll sorely miss?"

Harry hummed as he heard that, before he sent her a smile. "I don't know, maybe your friend Mariette isn't it?"

"Harry!" Cho laughed, slapping him on the arm.

Harry laughed again at that, before he looked at her straight in the eye. "Fine, then I suppose it will be you."

Cho stopped laughing as she heard that, though she still smiled. "But we've only known each other properly for just over a month."

"And yet you're still important to me." Harry replied, holding off on saying the most important, as he held her in the same ultimately high regard as he did Daphne, even if his relationship with her was thus far just lukewarm. Not that he was going to give up until it was as red hot as before.

Though, he was still yet to come up with an idea as to how to make his relationship with both girl's work. Not that that was going to stop him from trying, he was a greedy soul after all.

"You're sweet." Cho muttered before she leant forwards, pressing herself to Harry, even as she slowly, nervously brought her lips to his, her hands trailing softly around his shoulders, before moving up into his messy black hair.

With Harry happily reciprocating as he fully stood up, both his arms around her lithe form as he pulled her into him, even as he began to trail them up and down her body, slipping in a little tongue as he deepened their kiss.

 **( - )**

 **(The Next Day)**

"Yep this is it." Harry said cheerfully as he looked around at his surroundings, his emerald green eyes trailing over the unnervingly familiar snow covered graveyard, and the many mismatched tombstones that were dotted around it. The sight painfully familiar to Harry, even after all these years, not that he let this get to him, not when he was here of his own volition. "This is the Little Hangleton graveyard."

"Looks cheery Master." Dobby, the older one, said from beside Harry, his own large eyes inspecting the old, poorly maintained graveyard too, before he looked over to Harry.

"Yes it does." Harry nodded, smiling as he did so, though not at the view, but rather at the ease with which he had gotten away from Hogwarts. Honestly wizards and witches truly underestimated just how useful House Elves were, they were not just as handy as free servants after all, but also incredibly useful modes of transport.

With the House Elves' unique magic, and the general disregard people had for them, meaning that they could slip through wizarding wards undetected. It was how Dobby had originally gotten into Hogwarts in Harry's second year, and how Kreature had gotten to his Master, Regulus's, when he was in trouble. All Harry had needed to do was to use the most basic of Legilimency to convey the area he wanted to go into the willing elf's mind and then ask Dobby to teleport him there. It was literally that simple.

"Now come on." Harry said with a nod to Dobby as he began scanning the graveyards. "Let's get to it, I don't want to be here any longer than I have too. So give me a hand and see whether you can find the tombstone of Tom Riddle Senior."

Dobby nodded at that, before a few moments later the both of them began to search the snow covered graveyard.

"Found it." Dobby called out a few moments later, attracting Harry's attention as he headed in his direction.

"Good." Harry muttered as he came to a stop in front of Tom Riddle Senior's simple tombstone, his gaze trailing over the frozen, snow covered ground, looking for any signs of disturbance. When he didn't find any though, he then pulled out his wand, before with a flick he cast a powerful summoning charm.

In response to which the frozen ground below him seemed to quiver and then bulge, before moments later a whole host of yellowish bones erupted from the ground, forming into a skeletal ball in front of Harry as he eyed it with distaste, before with another flick of his wand and a slight bit of exertion he summoned a gout of Fiendfyre, enough to incinerate the bones, but not enough that it would require his full concentration to control.

"Ah, there's nothing like despoiling a grave in the morning." Harry sighed a few moments later as he supressed the Fiendfyre, before with another flick of his wrist he transfigured the earth below him, reverting it back to how it was before he messed with it, with him adding an extra layer of snow to make sure. "Now a missing key ingredient for his ritual should slow old snake face down."

Dobby hummed as he heard that, before he looked up at Harry. "It would Master, but I thought you had plans for how you were going to deal with the Voldemort issue."

"I do," Harry replied nonchalantly as he turned around and began to head off, his true appearance currently covered by a strong glamour charm he had put over himself before he left Hogwarts, a charm which had turned his black hair blonde, his green eyes blue and changed the shape of his face, making it almost 'Durlseyish' in appearance. "But I like to think of this as a contingency. I might not have come back to deal with Riddle, but I'm not going to let him fuck up my future."

Dobby nodded as he heard that, even as he followed Harry, the two of them quickly leaving the graveyard before they then began to head up a nearby track, travelling in the opposite direction of Little Hangleton.

"What is the plan if you don't mind me asking Master?" Dobby queried as the two of them continued on up the hill, Harry keeping an eye out as he looked through the trees on the side of the road, clearly searching for something as he did so.

"It's pretty simplistic." Harry replied a few moments later, after casting a silencing charm around the two. "I am going to let things happen how they did in the past, only I am going to be prepared for it. I'm going to turn the trap back on itself, and then kill Riddle's wraith, after which I'll use a bit of magic, parseltongue and Wormtail's Dark Mark to draw the rest of the freed Death Eaters to me, after which I will kill them all too. Simple, brutal and efficient."

"What of the Dark Lord's other Horcuxes and the imprisoned Death Eaters?" Dobby asked a few moments later, the two of them still travelling down the track.

"I'll destroy the ones I know of, and leave the Death Eaters to rot." Harry shrugged easily, not too perturbed about it. "That or I'll interrogate the imprisoned Death Eaters and try and find the missing Horcrux. It really depends on whether I can be bothered with the hassle."

"Better safe than sorry." Dobby prompted, used to Harry's laziness and eccentricities by this point in their friendship.

"That's fair." Harry nodded in reply, before he suddenly came to a stop, his gaze on a rickety looking shack set some fifty metres off of the track and hidden behind a host of trees, all of which had shed their leaves for the winter, leaving the shack quite visible.

"The Gaunt Shack?" Dobby asked as the two of them headed for the dilapidated shack.

"Yup." Harry responded as he slowly began to approach the shack, his wand in hand as he trailed it through the air, checking for enchantments and wards. Most of which he found were aimed at keeping away muggles, and were inherent in all wizarding constructs, tied to the structures and imbued into the land.

"Hmm, now let's see." Harry muttered to himself as he made it to the door, still not detecting any nasty spells. "Can you sense anything Dobby?"

"No Master, but House Elf magic is very different to wizarding magic." Dobby replied as he stayed close to Harry.

Harry nodded at that, but didn't reply as he pushed the door open and walked into the musty smelling building, one that hadn't been lived in since Morphin Gaunt had been carted off to Azkaban some fifty odd years ago, framed for the murder of Tom Riddle Senior and his family by his own nephew, Tom Riddle.

"Seems clean." Harry whispered into the silence, only to notice the incredulous look Dobby was sending him. "Magic wise that is."

Smiling as he saw Dobby's resolute nod, Harry rolled his eyes before he continued to scan the building, flicking his wand as he did so and forcing the floor tiles to disintegrate around him, which in turn revealed a small rune engraved box tucked away in one corner of the room.

"There it is." Harry muttered as he carefully made his way over to it. "You stay at the door Dobby, from what I remember Dumbledore saying this thing had a powerful compulsion charm on it which tried to get you to wear it, and a particularly nasty withering curse on the ring for anyone stupid enough to wear it."

"By which you mean the Headmaster." Dobby said in amusement.

Harry didn't reply to that, instead he inspected the rune inscribed box, analysing the runes on it as he did so, before he pushed magic into his wand and then began to unlock the box, a not too difficult thing to do for a talented person. Then again considering the curse on the ring, maybe the simple wooden lockbox wasn't the real defence.

Ignoring that though Harry succeeded in open the box, revealing the simple golden ring within, upon which was set perhaps the most powerful and deadly of the three Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone.

"Well there it is." Harry muttered as he used his Occlumency shields, and the fact that he already possessed an identical ring, to resist the sudden compulsion he felt to try the ring on. "Such a beautiful little thing."

"Master?" Dobby asked cautiously from where he was still standing in the door way.

"Hmm?" Harry hummed as he looked back at the elf, before nodding after which he pointed his wand at the ring and cast another controlled Fiendfyre spell, incinerating the ring and the soul fragment within, the fragment shrieking as it was enveloped and destroyed by the golden coloured, cursed fire.

"Were you not tempted to just expel the soul and keep it?" Dobby asked into the slight silence that followed.

"No," Harry replied easily as he looked down at the identical ring on his own hand. "There can be only one. I wouldn't want to risk there being two of them out there."

Dobby nodded at that.

"Right." Harry said standing up again. "Jobs done, let's get out of here and back to the castle. I have the Yule Ball to prepare for after all!"

"At least you've got your priorities right." Dobby grumbled as he approached Harry, grabbing the wizards arm as he did, before moments later he teleported them both away and back to the Chamber of Secrets.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So that's it, what did you all think? I hope you enjoyed it and leave a review!?**

 **Also sorry about the wait, I was pretty busy recently with my other stories, and also had to sort out the plot for this story, editing bits of it and strengthening other parts. Trust me the HP verse is actually pretty hard to write for, especially when you consider the number of plot holes in it. Seriously it is very complicated, especially when you really get into depth and bring about your own changes.**

 **Still I persevered and got this chapter out, even if I was demotivated recently by some truly terrible Harry Potter stories I read, all of which were really cringey as they fell back on old clichés like lordship, sealed memories and magic, and just bizarre characterisations.**

 **But yeah, this was the chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you have time, please do try and read some of my other stories, I have a lot of them, probably too many actually.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll catch you all later.**

 **Greed720.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Hey all here I am with the next chapter, it ended up takign longer than I thought it would, and being longer than I thougth it would, but still I finished it eventually, and I have to say this was definietly one of the harder chapters I have had to write. I honestly don't know how some authors do it when it comes to balancing out multi pairings. It is actually really difficult.**

 **Either way I hope you enjoy and leave a review.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _No," Harry replied easily as he looked down at the identical ring on his own hand. "There can be only one. I wouldn't want to risk there being two of them out there."_

 _Dobby nodded at that._

 _"_ _Right." Harry said standing up again. "Jobs done, let's get out of here and back to the castle. I have the Yule Ball to prepare for after all!"_

 _"_ _At least you've got your priorities right." Dobby grumbled as he approached Harry, grabbing the wizards arm as he did, before moments later he teleported them both away and back to the Chamber of Secrets._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 11**

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry)**

Harry sighed as he looked at his reflection in a mirror. Professor McGonagall had sent notice just a few days previously that the four school champions, or rather three currently due to Diggory's injuries, and their respective dates were all supposed to meet in a room just adjacent to the Great Hall at least ten minutes before the Yule Ball officially started.

This was likely so the older woman could tell them the instructions for what will be expected of them, and how they will be opening the Ball, and also to answer any questions that they might have. For Harry he had gone through this all before, and so already knew what would be expected. Despite that though it was mandatory, which meant that he would have to leave quite soon, especially if he wanted to meet up with Cho beforehand.

Straightening his formal, emerald green robes Harry looked in the floor length mirror he had had set up in the Chamber of Secrets curiously. The effects of his previous ritual were pretty obvious now, especially if one knew what one was looking for.

The most obvious change was how his previously skinny body had gotten larger and more muscled than before due to the ritual. In fact he now stood at just under six feet tall, with broad shoulders and dense, defined muscles in his arms and his legs.

He was not a giant, muscle bounded monstrosity by any means, but then again he never was, not even when he was a full grown man. Instead he looked like a health human wizard of around fifteen in his prime. Which was kind of the point.

That being said Harry was more than aware that he was now stronger than even the strongest ordinary human, on top of which his skin was now iron hard and his bones like diamond. Outwardly he looked like a normal human, inwardly though he was comparable to a lesser vampire in terms of his strength, stamina and durability, only without that pesky weakness to sunlight.

On top of that his body was now much more in tune with his magic, a handy side-effect from the artificial magical circulatory system he had embedded into his body. All of which refined his control of magic and increased its potency. In all he was now probably as strong as he had been in his prime, back before he leapt back in time. No, if anything he was stronger, after all this was his original body, not a body he possessed or a homunculus body like the ones he had been forced to use before. His original body having been destroyed decades ago.

Flexing his hands, Harry delighted at the feeling of his magic rushing about beneath the skin. The ritual was definitely worth the pain, and expense. Sure he was still not as powerful as either Voldemort or Dumbledore were, but they were genetic anomalies, freaks of nature.

A slight chuckle left Harry's lips at that thought. It was ironic that he called those two men freaks of nature, especially when one considered Harry's own nature. He had turned himself into a parasite, one who had transitioned from one body to another all so he could keep himself alive. Was he really any better than the psychotic Voldemort or the manipulative Dumbledore?

Shaking his head at these odd thoughts, Harry shoved them out of his mind as he instead ran a hand through his short black hair, mussing it up slightly as he checked himself over one last time.

"Ready to go Master?" Asked Dobby from his side, an amused look on the elf's face as Harry continued to check his appearance over in the mirror. Preening as Dobby liked to call it.

"Yep," Harry nodded, taking off his rings and Elder Wand, leaving them on a nearby worktable, and instead just taking his Holly Wand. "Teleport me up there."

"You know Master I am not just an easy means of transportation. You really should start walking again, otherwise you might start getting fat." Dobby shot back at Harry glibly, getting an unamused look in response from Harry, after which he then grabbed Harry's arm and teleported him up into the main school, not even waiting for Harry's sarcastic reply.

 **( - )**

 **(In the main school)**

Appearing in a quiet corridor Harry took a few moments to straighten his robes before he headed around the corner and approached the door to the Ravenclaw common room, absentmindedly eyeing the bronze door knocker as he did so. The knocker was shaped like a raven, and it was also the Ravenclaw equivalent to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Only instead of giving a password to a sentient portrait, to gain access to the Ravenclaw common room you instead just had to answer a riddle.

It was cute, if not all that practical. After all plenty of Gryffindors, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, were more than capable of answering a riddle and so accessing the Ravenclaw common room. Honestly, although it was a respectful nod to the traits that Rowena Ravenclaw espoused, when it came down to ensuring the security of the Ravenclaw common room, it was not all that good.

Heading for the door Harry knocked a couple of times, before he stood back and waited for someone to answer. He could have used the bronze knocker and answered the riddle and gained entry that way, however that would probably be seen as bad form.

Instead he waited for a few seconds before the door was pulled open, and an unfamiliar, dark haired Ravenclaw seventh year stuck their head out of the door and looked around for who had knocked for a few moments, before focusing on Harry.

"Potter?" The boy said uncertainly.

"I'm here to pick up Cho for our date, is she here?" Harry replied pleasantly.

"Errm?" The boy replied, looking back into his common room as he did so, before back at Harry.

"Excuse me Derek." The familiar voice of Cho suddenly spoke out, making the now named Derek jump before he opened the door fully and stepped backwards. Revealing Cho as he did so, the girl in question looking absolutely gorgeous in an ankle length midnight blue dress made out of some kind of gossamer like material, and simple black heels with small silver snowflakes on them. The beautiful, forming fitting dress definitely complimenting her dark eyes and long, waist length black hair.

Nervously pushing a lock of her raven coloured hair behind her ear, Cho sent Harry a nervous smile as she stepped passed the dumbstruck Derek and out of her common room. "You're just on time Harry."

"Well I aim to please." Harry replied with a grin, finding it difficult as he did so to tear his eyes away from the lithe girl, his mouth feeling dry as his green eyes roved up and down her body, before he locked onto her lightly blushing face, a wide smile playing around his face as he gazed at her. "You look beautiful."

"You don't scrub up too badly yourself." Cho replied her cheeks going a little pink, even as she smiled brightly.

"Ermm." Derek said again, looking between the two of them awkwardly.

"You ready to go?" Harry asked with a grin, extending a hand as he completely ignored Derek, his attention entirely on Cho to the exclusion of all else.

"Yeah," Cho said excitedly, stepping forward and taking Harry's hand as she did so, both of them still ignoring the gawping Derek as they swept passed him and down the corridor, heading for the entrance hall where they were supposed to meet McGonagall and the other Champions. Neither one of them paying attention to anything or anyone else as they just started talking quietly.

 **( - )**

 **(A few minutes later)**

In the end Harry and Cho ended up being the first of the champions and their dates to arrive, not that this bothered them too unduly as they just continued to enjoy one another's company, the two of them just chatting about nothing in particular as they waited around in the room for the others to arrive. Both of them chatting about their expectations for the Ball. With Harry staying quite neutral with his responses, after all he had already been through all this once before.

Then again the last time he had come here with Parvati Patil, a last minute date he had managed to wrangle, and honestly he had didn't have that good a time. Parvati although very pleasant was a little vapid and had ended up spending most of the night gossiping with Lavender or chatting up some Beauxbaton boys. On top of that at the time he had still been on the outs with both Ron and Hermione, and the girl he had wanted to ask out, Cho, had gone to the Ball with Cedric, so all in all he hadn't been in that good a place.

This time though, this time things would be different. He got the girl, Cedric was in St Mungos and out of the way, and Hermione and Ron were dead to him and hopefully wouldn't bother him tonight.

In the end he had decided not to just kill them out of hand, he was morally ambiguous but not wantonly cruel or a psychopath, or at least he didn't think he was. That being said if they did threaten his future, or looked to be turning out the same way they had before, well then he would have no choice but to end them. But still that wasn't what he wanted to do, not right now anyway.

Chattering away absentmindedly, Harry could hear the slowly increasing noise from outside of the door reaching a dull roar as students from all three schools flooded the entrance hall, some of them probably there to meet up with their dates for the night, whilst others were probably just overly eager for the Ball to start.

Soon enough the doors to the room opened and Beauxbaton champion, Fleur Delacour, walked in escorted by a Hogwarts seventh year whose name Harry could not quite remember, though he did know he was a Ravenclaw Seventh Year. Speaking of said date, the boy in question was quite obviously staring agog at the attractive blonde like she was a particularly delicious slab of meat, obviously trying not to drool on himself as he stumbled along beside her, obviously entranced by her Veela charms.

From where he was standing Harry too could feel a slight pull from the charm, her natural allure causing him to suddenly think about how attractive the Beauxbaton's champion was but little else. Often time's wizards and witches liked to overly dramatize a Veela's allure. But in truth a person with sufficient will, or at least a minor proficiency with Occlumency could easily throw off the effects of a Veela. The Ravenclaw Seventh Year though was obviously not one of these people, instead he was staring at the blond like he couldn't believe his luck to have her as a date.

Smiling and nodding politely to the Veela, Harry then looked back to Cho. He liked Fleur well enough, she might be a bit haughty and condescending but she had a good heart and was well-intentioned. In fact she had even travelled back to Britain to join in the fight against Voldemort, even when she didn't have too, though that was also in part due to her being engaged to Bill Weasley at the time. It was just a shame Bill had died before they could ever get married.

Shaking those thoughts off, Harry looked back to Cho, only to see her watching him closely, as if she were looking to see if he was as enraptured by Fleur as her date was.

"What?" Asked Harry, an amused smile on his face as he cocked an eyebrow at Cho.

"No, nothing I just thought you might be gawking at Fleur like Roger is." Cho replied, her face flushing slightly. "Not that I would have judged you, I mean, I know the effect a Veela's allure can have on people, even a half Veela like her."

"It's honestly not that hard to shake off, you just need a bit of restraint. That being said, in fairness to Roger was it? Some people aren't able to fight it, not if they don't know about it, or don't want to fight it." Harry explained easily, not too perturbed by Cho's insecurities, she was a teenaged witch and Veela's tended to have that effect on even full-grown women.

"Yeah, I saw plenty of people drooling and falling over each other to ask her out." Cho added, watching as Fleur tried to make conversation with Roger, though only with limited success as he seemed to keep losing track of his thoughts and trailing off mid-sentence.

Smiling as he saw this Harry was about to speak up again, only to be distracted when his attention, and the attention of the rest of the people in the room was again drawn over to the door to the room opening, only this time Viktor Krum walked in with his date, a pretty girl in a blue dress.

Looking over Harry was interested to see that Hermione was once again Viktor Krum's date, apparently Harry ditching her so soon hadn't effected that much, or at least not yet. Then again Krum had asked her out at the library from what Harry remembered, and knowing Hermione after his rejection of her she had likely retreated to her sanctuary, the library, more often than she had done the first time around.

Still, he wasn't going to ruin this for her, this version of the girl was an innocent. Sure she was arrogant, presumptuous and overly confident in her own abilities, but she was not yet the woman that she had become, the women who Harry had grown to hate, the women that Harry had taken great pleasure in killing.

No at the moment she was just an innocent teenage witch, one Harry had already begun to marginalise, along with Longbottom and Weasley, all in the hope that they don't become the people they had the first time around. After all as much pleasure as it would give him, he didn't want to just kill three innocent children out of hand. He had not fallen that far.

"Isn't that Hermione Granger?" Cho asked a little uncertainly, as she looked over at the slim, pretty young witch.

"Yes." Harry replied slightly curter than normal.

Cho looked sideways at him as she heard that, biting her lips cutely as she did so. "So it's true then, that you're no longer on speaking terms with her, or with Weasley either? I had heard, but well, I didn't really want to presume."

"They claimed to be my friends and then they stabbed me in the back. I have no interest in hanging around people like that." Harry replied, ignoring Hermione's attempts to catch his eye as he instead put his full attention on Cho. "Still I'm not going to be petty, if they leave me alone I will leave them alone too."

"Very mature." Cho replied dryly, but said no more on the issue as both of the other champions were coming over to the two of them.

"Potter." Krum started off, Hermione nervously trailing along after him.

"Krum." Harry acknowledged, a bemused smile on his face as he waited to see what the Bulgarian had to say.

"You fought well against the dragon, better than I thought you would." Krum continued a few moments later in heavily accented Bulgarian, his dark eyes boring into Harry, even as a very small smile broke through his usually dour features.

"Thanks." Harry said with a nod, somewhat taken aback by the compliment. "You didn't do so badly yourself."

Krum nodded at that.

"Yes I too was impressed, you might be young…" Fleur spoke up next, her French accent very prominent, as she paused. "Younger than us, but you are a worthy Champion. I just want to apologise for my previous words, it was how do you say… unbecoming."

"Right, thanks." Harry replied, once again surprised by the candour of the two other champions, they certainly weren't this pleasant the first time around. Krum for one had never really warmed up to him, and Fleur had only changed her views on him after he had rescued her sister. Still he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "You two did really well to get past those dragons too, and I'm sure you'll do brilliantly in the next task as well."

Fleur and Krum nodded at that, after which they began to politely converse with Harry and Cho, Roger occasionally chipping in with some half formed sentence when he could and Hermione occasionally pitching in too. Though surprisingly she seemed to mostly speak up to curtail Krum when he started talking about the next task, almost as if she didn't want him to give away anything about it to the other champions.

"Attention please!" Professor McGonagall called out, interrupted the group of six as she walked into the room. Briefly looking around at the three couples, before she nodded to herself. After which she gave them their instructions and put them in an order, with Fleur and Roger at the front, Krum and Hermione in the middle and Harry and Cho at the back. "You will enter the hall in a procession, after which you will go to the head table where seats have been set aside for you. Following on from that, after dinner, it is expected that you will start the Ball off with a dance."

The champions and their partners all nodded at that, none of them looking at all perturbed by what was expected of them. Not even Harry, though that was in part due to the fact that he knew how to dance now, with Daphne having taught him after they got together just before they left school. It had been a necessity due to the amount of functions they had been expected to attend, some of which were Ministry Functions, some of which were personal, whilst other were shindigs thrown by the remaining Noble Houses.

Either way in the early days of their union life had been hectic, and the expectations on them had been great. It had only been as Harry grew older, and after he lost his first love that he finally learned how to say, no, and how to tell people to just 'fuck off' when he didn't want to do things.

Harry had to hide a grimace at that thought, his Daphne had died nearly twenty eight years ago, back when the two of them were just twenty five. Despite that though still felt the pain of her passing. It was the same for Cho.

That pain however was now tempered by the fact that he had another chance, his ritual had sent him back through his own timeline, completely destroying the timeline he had originally come from. And this time around Harry wouldn't be fucking up, he wouldn't be allowing those he loved to die, and any who did threaten his loved ones? Well he would butcher them without mercy.

 **( - )**

 **(In the Great Hall)**

A few minutes later when the procession walked into the Great Hall in procession they were all met with a wave of applause and cheers from the students of all three schools. Cho blushed prettily at this, and ducked her head in a bit of embarrassment as people applauded, though it didn't stop her from sending Harry a mischievous smile as she bumped his hip with her own. Harry shot her a smile in return, after which his hand found hers and he gave it a little squeeze.

Upon entering the Great Hall all of those present were quick to see just how different it looked, with its walls decked with silver frost and hundreds of garlands of mistletoe and ivy crossing the starry ceiling. On top of that the long house tables had been replaced with a hundred or so smaller round ones, each of which seemed to seat a dozen or so people.

'Wow," Harry heard Cho breathe, her grip on his arm tightening as they approached the head table where the judges and the professor's sat.

Smiling at this, Harry also looked around the hall, they really did go all out for this event, the enchanted ceiling overhead only seemed to add to the decorations as snow could be seen falling from the dark, starry sky.

Heading for the table, Harry could see the other champions had all already taken their places, sitting alongside Professor Dumbledore, Madame Maxine, Ludo Bagman, Igor Karkaroff, and Percy Weasley. Harry smiled slightly at the sight of the last one, it had slipped his mind that Percy had been drafted in to take over Barty Crouch Seniors duties for the tournament by this point.

"It looks like he wants us to sit next to him." Cho whispered to Harry with a slight laugh as the two of them saw Percy rapidly motioning for Harry to take a seat next to him.

"Really, I didn't notice." Harry replied dryly, before he suddenly acted like he didn't notice and sat at the other end of the table with Cho on one side and Roger on the other. He didn't have anything against Percy personally, sure the boy was a bit pompous, but he wasn't a nasty or unpleasant person. It was just that Harry found him to be an incredible bore, and not someone who he wanted to converse with at dinner, not when he would prefer Cho's company exclusively.

In fact Harry didn't have anything against the Weasley's in general. Arthur was a good, hard working man who looked after his family the best he could. Molly was a kind, if slightly over bearing at times, but very generous woman all the same, who Harry was honestly still quite fond of. It had just been a pity that she had never recovered from the deaths of so many of her children, most in the fight against Voldemort, though some in the battle against the Light Lords, Oberon and Titania.

Both Bill and Charlie had also been decent enough, even if Harry couldn't purport to have ever known them that well. Both of them had unfortunately died fighting Voldemort's Death Eaters during one of the more vicious raids that had occurred in Manchester.

Fred and George were also a good laugh, though they were a bit prone to stealing and bullying in their younger years. Fortunately in the end they grew out of it and turned into pretty decent men all tings told.

Ginny too wasn't bad, she'd been a bit obsessive, especially after Harry had initiated a fuck buddy relationship with her for a time in his fifth year, but she had not been wantonly cruel or malicious, at worst she had just been a silly little girl. One who would have eventually grown up, had her life not been cut short by Death Eaters in her own fifth year.

No, in fact the only Weasley Harry had any real beef with was Ron, and that was because he actively joined the Light Lords and willingly joined in in the chaos and destruction their policies and extremist ideology brought about. The red head was a bastard plain and simple, or rather he grew up to be a bastard. The Ron at present was just a very insecure kid, one Harry would attempt to marginalize so that he would never become a threat.

Sitting at the head table, as everyone else in the hall sat at their own tables, Harry and Cho continued to chat. Talking about nothing of any real consequence, the two of them occasionally engaging Fleur in conversation too, especially after it became clear that her date for the evening, Roger Davis, was lacking in the conversation department, again most likely due to the effects of Fleur's allure, as oppose to him just being a little dim.

Upon sitting menus were eventually presented to them and Harry turned and explained to Cho how all they had to do to order was to call out the name of the food and it would appear in front of them, a slightly fancier way of dining than usual.

Even so he ordered and was pleased to see his food appear in front of him just as he wanted it to, though he did have to surrender part of it in exchange for some of Cho's when his date for the evening got the dreaded food envy. Something he teased her about, even as they continued to converse, chatting about adventures Harry had gone on, earlier on his school career and what Cho had been doing during her first four years at Hogwarts.

Looking down at the rest of the hall, conversation seemed to be flowing down there too as the different Houses and schools mingled. Though noticeably there were no Gryffindors and Slytherins couples at the Ball together, or at least none that Harry recognised. The same though could not be said for the rest of the Houses and the three schools, there was a lot of intermingling in that regard.

In fact looking down at the table Harry easily spotted his current friendship group all sitting around one of the tables with their respective dates, all of them having a good time. With Lavender having come with who Harry recognised as Terry Boot, whilst Parvati by the looks of it had managed to snag herself some Beauxbaton boy.

Also noticeable was the fact that Ron, still in his horrible maroon dress robes, frills and all, didn't seem to have a date, not that he seemed to care as he instead continued to throw dirty looks up at the head table, at both Hermione who was at the other end to Harry, and surprisingly at Harry himself. Not that Harry gave a damn, though he was amused to see that Neville who was also sitting next to Ron was looking very uncomfortable, whilst his date for the evening, Ginny, just looked disgruntled.

Smiling in spite of himself at this, Harry's gaze shifted around the room until his eyes locked on a familiar blonde, his green eyes meeting violet for a moment, before Daphne sent him a curious look, after which she turned back to her friends, Blaise and Tracey, both of whom had come as a couple, with Daphne, unsurprisingly for Harry, third wheeling.

"It looks like everyone's pretty excited doesn't it?" Cho said from beside him, a smile on her own face as she followed Harry's gaze, waving and grinning to a couple of her friends when she caught their eyes, before she turned back to Harry.

"Well I suppose this is the first time Hogwarts has done something like this. I mean the End of Year Feast is one thing, but a proper Ball, that's a whole other thing." Harry replied easily, quite content for the moment as he placed his knife and fork on his plate and had a sip of Elf made wine, another treat for the occasion it would appear.

"Really, I would think Hogwarts would have many Balls, the Great Hall is so grand, and there are so many students." Fleur suddenly pitched in curiously in highly accented English, the blonde for once not disparaging the school or comparing it to Beauxbaton Academy as she instead looked over at Harry in interest.

"I'm not sure really, I guess they might have done once upon a time. But there has never been anything like this whilst I was at the school. Why do they have Balls and dances at Beauxbaton?" Harry asked, he was pretty familiar with mainland Europe, though mainly Eastern and Northern Europe where he had spent most of his thirties, in particular Bulgaria and Scandinavia. Though he had spent some time in Germany and Spain too. France though was one place he had only ever passed through, after all the country was as highly regulated as Britain, and so had had less opportunities for someone in Harry's business.

"Yes every year we have Balls to celebrate Yule, though in Beauxbaton the affairs, though not as large, are much more elegant than this." Fleur replied, after which she began to wax lyrical about the decorations at Beauxbaton, and how much better they were than Hogwarts, much to both Cho and Harry's amusement as they humoured her, and Roger's confusion as he occasionally managed to stop staring long enough to mumble along in agreement.

Soon enough the meal came to an end, and a band, the Weird Sisters, came onto the stage, much to the pleasure of those in the hall as a round of cheers greeted their arrival. Following on from which Dumbledore cleared the room with a sweep of his wand, and McGonagall called for the champions to start the dance.

"Let's go." Cho said to Harry a grin on her face as she took his hand, both of them rising from the table along with Fleur and Davis, and Krum and Hermione, all of them following McGonagall's instructions as they headed for the dance floor. The rest of those present standing up now too as they made a circle, all of them muttering in excitement as the three champions and their dates took their places, and the band looked like it was about to begin playing.

A few moments later Harry put an arm around Cho preparing for the dance to begin. "You ready?"

"Yes, can you dance?" Cho replied, a smile on her face as she took his hand and moved closer.

Harry didn't get a chance to respond to the question though, or at least not verbally, as moments later the music began softly and the couples began to move, the music seeming to swell and the tempo increasing as they did so.

Almost every eye in the hall was on the dancing champions as they started to waltz around the hall, though a lot were on Harry and his Ravenclaw date as they swirled around in sync, Cho proving herself to be as skilled at dancing as she was on a broom as she not only kept up with Harry, but almost put him to shame with her grace and elegance.

Not that Harry paid any attention to those watching on or muttering, or to the few female voices he could hear expressing their jealously, it appeared at least some of them had seemed to notice the effects of his ritual, and were pretty admiring of it. No, instead Harry's attention was fixed entirely on Cho, and hers on him as they whirled around the dancefloor, deftly avoiding the other dancers, even as more and more of them began to join in.

Soon enough the dance floor filled with hundreds of couples, all of whom were wearing robes of every cut, style and colour, from conservative to flamboyant.

Soon enough most of the attention was off Harry and the others as the rest of the students and the teachers flooded the dance floor, all of them wanting to get involved too.

Like it had been the first time around the music started off quite classical at the beginning of the night, with beautiful music radiating throughout the massive hall, enrapturing all present as they just let loose and danced, some just in pairs, whilst others formed groups.

Some however quickly got tired of dancing, or didn't seem to want to go up to begin with, with them instead migrating to the tables at the side of the room where Elf wine and butter beers were still being served.

Dancing wasn't for everyone.

Still for Cho and Harry they stayed on the dance floor for quite a while, both of them too enraptured in one another to take a break. Currently the song that was playing quite a bit slower than those that had come before, and both Harry and Cho were dancing far closer than one might usually think appropriate. Cho with her arms around Harry and her head on his shoulder, whilst he had both of his arms around her waist, one hand trailing down so it was nearly cupping her very firm arse. By this point the two of them were pressed so close together that it would have likely taken a crowbar to pry them apart.

"So apparently you can dance." Cho muttered as she leant her head against Harry's chest, delighting in the warmth of his arms and the steady beat of his heart.

"It's a skill we all have to learn at some point." Harry replied quietly as he smelt the delectable peach scent of Cho's hair wafting up into his nose, with him sighing as he gentling rest his head on hers.

"I'm so glad I met you." Cho suddenly said into the content silence that followed as the two continued to sway, both of them lost in a world of their own as the other couples around them continued to dance.

Harry blinked as he heard that, before a wide smile spread across his face, his green eyes practically twinkling with delight as Cho looked up at him. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

Cho smiled softly as she heard that, before she raised herself up, standing on her toes as she brushed his lips with her own. "I can't believe I've only known you properly for just over a month and I'm already starting to fall for you."

If possible Harry's smile got even brighter as he heard that, even as he moved his head down and gave her a deeper kiss, one that she surrendered to almost instantly.

The moment didn't last though, as a couple of giggles from nearby soon broke the two of them apart after a couple of minutes of snogging. Cho going quite pink in the cheeks and burying her head into the crook of Harry's neck as the two of them saw that their make out session had not gone unnoticed.

Smiling at this, Harry sent those around him an amused look, including both Parvati and Lavender, both of whom had gone quite red in the face as they tried to stifle their titters. Fred, George, Seamus and Dean were all also grinning as they and their dates glanced over to Harry and the embarrassed Cho too. All of the Gryffindors and their partners having created something of a scrum in the centre of the hall as they danced.

Sending the grinning boys a wink and a shake of his head, Harry gave Cho a kiss on the top of her head, before whispering to her. "Do you fancy getting a drink?"

"Yep, that sounds good." Cho muttered quickly, her face still pink as the two of them broke apart and began to head off the dance floor, Cho still holding onto Harry's hand and sticking very closely to him as they waded through the crowd and headed for a nearby table.

"Your friends can be arses sometimes." Cho muttered still quite pink faced as the two of them took a seat at the table, and Harry poured them both glasses of wine. Cho's attention still on Harry's group of friends, some of whom were very much acting their age in regards to their maturity. Or at least they were until their respective dates got them under control and got their attention back onto them as it should be.

"Oh absolutely, but they're all decent at heart." Harry replied easily, as he passed a glass over to Cho, both of them clinking their glasses together as they did so.

"Oh I'm sure." Cho replied with a slight smile, recovering from her shyness now as she instead grinned over at Harry. "My friends are probably just as embarrassing if not worse, you should have heard their reaction when I told them you'd asked me to the Ball. Honestly I think they've been reading too many Playwizard magazines and erotica."

"I dread to think." replied Harry, wincing as he did so. He had never really had much to do with Cho's school friends, after all Cho and him had reconnected in later life, when both of them had been in their mid to late twenties, by which point their friendship groups were not as expansive as the had been at school. They instead having narrowed down to just a few individuals. Still he was looking forward to making their acquaintances.

"You look like you were having fun Potter." A familiar voice spoke up dryly from behind Harry, catching both Harry and Cho's attention as they looked round and saw the ever beautiful Daphne approaching them, the blonde part Veela wearing a silver dress that seemed to cling to every delectable curve on her body, the dress causing her violet eyes to stand out more than ever as she approached.

"Daphne." Harry said with a smile, pulling out a chair for the girl as he did so. "Are you having a good night?"

Daphne cocked an elegant eyebrow at the gesture, her violet eyes moving from the grinning Harry to the curious Cho, before she shrugged and took the seat. "It's been as good as it can be."

Cho cleared her throat slightly at that.

"Oh right, Cho Chang this is Daphne Greengrass a friend of mine, and Daphne this is Cho my date and…." Harry trailed off as he looked to Cho, only to grin wider when he saw her cheeks turn pink again.

"His girlfriend." Cho finished with a smile to Harry, before she looked over to Daphne. "It's really nice to meet you Daphne. I've of course heard of you before, Professor Flitwick talks about you all the time, apparently you're practically a prodigy in Charms."

"Thanks." Daphne said a genuine smile on her face now, even if she did send Harry a flat look at the 'friends' comment. "And I've heard of you too, Professor Babbling mentioned how good you are at Runes, and suggested we could ask you if we need any pointers and she's not around. That and the fact that you're and amazing flyer, probably the best Seeker in the school."

Here Daphne sent Harry a smirk, which only caused him to laugh and roll his eyes.

"Well I wouldn't say the best at either flying or Runes, but I appreciate the compliment all the same." Cho replied with a slight laugh, her own smile genuine now as she sent Harry a smirk.

"So I didn't realise that you two knew one another." Daphne continued, the question in her statement pretty obvious.

"Yeah, though we only really started to talk properly just over a month ago, back when he started giving me tutoring sessions on Spellbinding." Cho replied, giving Harry a warm smile here, before she looked back to Daphne. "How did you two meet, I didn't even know you two knew each other, let alone were friends?"

Daphne in response cocked an eyebrow at the mention of Spellbinding, but said no more on it as she instead gave Harry an inscrutable look. "I think the first time I actually spoke to Potter properly was just before the First Task, and since then he has gone out of his way to pester me trying to make friends."

"He is persistent isn't he?" Cho laughed with a smile.

"And did it work?" Harry asked with a grin of his own, entirely unembarrassed by Daphne's words as he sent the pair of them a wink.

"I'm here aren't I?" Daphne replied noncommittally, before she looked back to Cho and rolled her eyes, much to the slightly older girl's amusement as she let out a slight laugh.

"You know I am beginning to feel like you two are ganging up on me." Harry said, the amusement obvious in his voice as he grabbed another glass, filled it with wine, and passed it over to Daphne.

"Oh don't be so sensitive." Cho laughed, nudging Harry's shoulder with her own, before she looked over at Daphne. "So I'm surprised you're not out there on the dance floor?"

Daphne's smile became a little fixed as she heard that, only for it to relax a few moments later as she just gave Cho a shrug. "I didn't have a date and just tagged along with some friends tonight," Her violet eyes flickered over to said friends as she said that, both Cho and Harry looking over too as they saw Blaise Zabini and Tracey Davis dancing together on the dance floor, bouncing around to a fast paced piece of music, both of them looking like they were having the time of their lives.

"Hmm, well how do you fancy having a dance?" Cho asked with a smile, putting aside her empty wine glass as she did so, before she reached over to grab both Daphne and Harry's hand.

"Wait what?" Daphne said, putting her wine glass to one side as the Ravenclaw threw caution to the wind and pulled both Harry and her up off of their seats. Potter of course was no help as he just shrugged and grinned, after which both of them were tugged onto the dance floor by the tipsy Cho.

For Daphne this was somewhat of a shock to the system, she wasn't used to this reaction, or at least certainly not from other girls. Her Veela heritage, looks and allure, weak though it was when compared to a pureblooded Veela, did put her at odds with most of the girls she met after all, or at least the insecure ones, which at this age amounted to most teenage girls. It was for that reason that she had thought she would drop in on Potter, who despite being a bit annoying at times was quite interesting, after which she would probably leave for the night.

What she hadn't been expecting though was for Potter's date, Cho Chang, to be so warm and friendly to her, or for her to tug both her and Potter onto the dance floor. Daphne wasn't sure whether it was because the girl was slightly drunk, or whether it was because she was being affected by the allure, but either way she soon found herself dancing with both Cho and Harry to the music which even now was becoming slightly less classic and slightly more contemporary as the Weird Sisters started playing some of their own songs.

And that was exactly what they did for the next couple of hours, the three of them dancing around and having a laugh, occasionally breaking off for more wine or butterbeer before going back to it, the three of them soon enough being joined by some of Harry's Gryffindor friends, some of Cho's Ravenclaw friends and Blaise and Tracey. All of them putting aside House rivalry for the moment as they instead just had fun and enjoyed one another company.

Life was too short to be arguing and sniping at one another, especially over something as trivial as what colour your school tie was. All around this growing group the rest of those present also seemed to get in the mood, as the dancing and music became wilder and wilder, the previous elegant dancing the complete opposite of what was steadily turning into a mosh pit. Especially around the stage where Durmstrang, Hogwarts and Beauxbaton boys could be seen jumping around and bashing into each other, shouting along to the song and just having a good time.

Of course all good things have to come to an end, and that is what happened during a slight break when Harry, Cho, Daphne, Tracey and Blaise broke off from the main group on the dance floor. With them instead standing near a table most of them drinking some refreshing pumpkin juice, though noticeably the openly laughing Cho and Daphne were still on the wine, both of them laughing together about something or other as Harry politely made small talk with Tracey and Blaise.

Both of whom Harry, back in the day, had been on pretty good terms with from his late school days when he first got together with Daphne, and beyond. In fact he had still been friends with the happily married couple when he had gone through with the ritual more than forty years from now. Though by that point he was so caught up in his work and other activities and duties that he barely saw the two of them more than once or twice a year.

Harry was just in the middle of giving the duo his 'theory' on how it was also possible that he could have beaten the dragon had he summoned a broom and tried to outmanoeuvre it, something neither of them believed was possible, when he felt someone angrily tapping him on the shoulder.

Turning to look who it was, Harry was quickly met with the angry face of his Housemate and former friend, Ron Weasley.

"How can I help you?" Harry asked somewhat curtly, wondering just what the redhead wanted, after all from memory he should be glowering at Hermione around now for going to the Ball with Krum.

"Yeah! You can tell me what you're doing with them." Ron answered abruptly, gesturing at Blaise, Tracey and Daphne, who by this point had stopped laughing and was looking over, a hint of hurt appearing on the tipsy girl's usually poised and controlled face.

Noticing the look, and seeing the scowl on the slightly drunk Cho's face as she put a bracing arm around the more emotional than normal Daphne, Harry turned to face Ron. Squaring his shoulder and standing to his full height as he faced him down, his shoulders broader than Ron's even if he was not quite as tall.

He didn't particularly want to make a scene here, but he would if Ron continued to run his mouth.

"They're Slytherins! I can't believe you ditch us and take up with them. You can't trust any of them!" the red head yelled, loud enough to get the attention of quite a few of the other people around them.

Harry's scowl darkened as he heard this, before he could retort though he was cut off by Cho.

"No Weasley, the one he can't trust is you! You and Granger were the ones who stabbed Harry in the back, and he was supposed to be your best friend. What you're doing now is pathetic, just go away and stop trying to ruin everyone's night." Cho snapped, her tone sharp and her eyes flashing in anger.

Harry nodded at that. "Yeah, I trust and like Daphne, Blaise and Tracey far more than I do you. So go away, and don't bother us again for the rest of the night."

"What are you kidding me, you actually trust those scumbags!?" Ron asked incredulously, his face flushing red in anger now.

Hearing this Harry's eyes flashed with anger, and his hand twitched, his wand shooting out of its holster in a single smooth move. Before he could raise it though he felt a pair of soft put firm hands on his arm stopping him.

"Daphne?" Muttered Harry his brow furrowing as he saw her smile and shake her head.

"He's not worth it." Said Daphne quietly, some of her previous cheer and happiness having faded by this point.

"I think you've had too much to drink Ronniekins." The voice of Fred Weasley suddenly spoke up interrupting the moment as both him and his brother grabbed Ron and half wrestled him away, both of them send Harry apologetic looks as they dragged their protesting younger brother away and out of the hall.

"What a fucking arsehole." Cho said bluntly as the group watched Ron go, after which she turned to Daphne and the others with a smile. "Well come on the let's get back to it!"

Following on from that the rest of their night passed by relatively calmly, much to Harry's relief as they returned to having fun and a good laugh, the other Gryffindors, as if to apologise for Ron's behaviour, going out of their way to be nice to the three Slytherins.

Eventually though, the Ball began to die down as the students broke off and disappeared.

Those who had dates from Houses not their own accompanying their dates as they dropped them off at their common rooms, whilst those who went stag stumbled off with a couple of others. Either way their group began to break a part. The three Slytherin's were the first to leave, with Cho giving Daphne a hug despite her protests, and Harry giving them all a friendly goodbye too. After which Seamus and Dean vanished with their dates, as too did Parvati and Lavender not long after with their own dates.

The Ravenclaws were the next to leave, a couple of them asking Cho if she wanted to come back with them only to be waved off and told she'll catch up with them later. Which they eventually did as they slowly headed to the Ravenclaw common room hand in hand, making small talk as they roamed the school's dark corridors.

Until around ten minutes later they arrived at the door to the Ravenclaw common room. Cho swinging around to face Harry as he gently took a hold of her hips.

"I had fun tonight." Cho said softly, moving closer her hands on Harry's shoulders as she gazed up at Harry. "I'm glad I met you."

Harry smiled at that, leaning down as he did so to press his lips against hers, his arms tightening around her as he felt her reciprocate. Her own arms tightening around him as she pulled him in close, slipping her tongue in as she deepened the kiss, pulling him back until he was pressing her into the wall. His hand cupping her arse as she ran her hands through his short, dark hair.

A few minutes later the two broke apart, Cho panting as she ground herself against the bulge she could feel in Harry's trouser, her cheeks flushed and her lips slightly bruised from the forcefulness of her kiss.

"I'm glad I met you too." Harry said, smiling down at her as he pulled her into a last hug and gave her a soft, almost chaste kiss before he let her go. Watching as she pushed a lock of her black hair behind her ear, a suddenly shy look on her face as she sent him a shy smile, pausing at the partially open door to the common room for a moment, before she turned to look at him. "Good night Harry."

"Goodnight, Cho" He answered, still smiling, even as she sent him one last look before she disappeared behind the door.

 **( - )**

 **(At the same time, in the Headmaster's Office)**

"Why have you called me hear at this time in the night Albus?" Severus Snape demanded angrily as he glowered at Albus Dumbledore, the potion's professor looking less than his best as he tiredly looked around the office, acknowledging Professor's Flitwick, McGonagall and Sprout as he did so, all of whom looked just and tired and irritable as him, including even the usually cheerful Pomona Sprout.

"I'm sorry for the late call, but an issue of some urgency has come up." Dumbledore replied swiftly, his demeanour instantly grabbing the other professor's attention. The usually unflappable Dumbledore was worried. "Alastor has gone missing?"

"Moody?" Snape growled, before he rolled his eyes. "He's probably just off searching other teacher's offices for Dark Artefacts, or maybe even the students knowing him."

"Severus, this is no laughing matter." Dumbledore shot back sternly, his heavily lined face looking around at the others. "I have not seen him since yesterday, and when I went to check up on him after the Ball I found his office empty, and his trunk missing."

"It sounds like he left the school." McGonagall replied, a stern expression on her face.

"It does indeed, but it is not like Alastor to leave without a word, or ever give up an assignment he had agreed to take." Dumbledore replied swiftly. "It's very out of character."

"This is just Mad-Eye we're talking about, he probably just saw a shadow and decided someone was trying to kill him. The man is paranoid and unstable, and has a well-known tendency to overreact." Snape bit out sourly, entirely unperturbed by Moody's disappearance, if anything he was glad the man was gone.

 ** _"_** ** _I don't believe that to be the case, I can think of no reason why he would pack up his belongings and leave this castle without a single word to me, or even a note." Dumbledore replied quietly._**

 ** _"_** ** _You suspect foul play?" Squeaked Flitwick, the half goblin's own brow furrowing in thought now._**

"That can't be, this is Hogwarts. Nothing could get passed the school's protections." McGonagall spoke up abruptly.

"Which make his disappearance all the more worrying." Dumbledore finished, a grave look on his face now as he looked around at the other teachers in the room.

 **( - )**

 **AN: And there we go, that's the chapter. It ended up being much longer than I thought it would be, and was a massive pain in the arse to write. Even now there are parts of it I am not entirely happy with. I mean honestly, I have no idea how the few people who can write a good harem story do it. Trying to balance the interactions, emotions and characters is a nightmare. More than once I just wanted to give up at this chapter, but no I preserved.**

 **Either way I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and leave a review I do love to hear from people.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading and I'll catch you later.**

 **Greed720.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: So here is the next chapter I hope you all enjoy it, it was kind of a pain to write. But still I hope you enjoy it and leave a review.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _This is just Mad-Eye we're talking about, he probably just saw a shadow and decided someone was trying to kill him. The man is paranoid and unstable, and has a well-known tendency to overreact." Snape bit out sourly, entirely unperturbed by Moody's disappearance, if anything he was glad the man was gone._

 _"_ _I don't believe that to be the case, I can think of no reason why he would pack up his belongings and leave this castle without a single word to me, or even a note." Dumbledore replied quietly._

 _"_ _You suspect foul play?" Squeaked Flitwick, the half goblin's own brow furrowing in thought now._

 _"_ _That can't be, this is Hogwarts. Nothing could get passed the school's protections." McGonagall spoke up abruptly._

 _"_ _Which make his disappearance all the more worrying." Dumbledore finished, a grave look on his face now as he looked around at the other teachers in the room._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 12**

 **( - )**

"Why have you defied my orders and left your post Bartemius? Explain!" A cold, soft sibilant voice spoke out from a high backed, winged chair that had been set to one side of a blazing fireplace, the words carrying in the richly decorated, but still quite empty room.

The tone of the voice, and the words spoken, made the two other occupants in the room flinch as they heard it. One of them, a short, dumpy, balding man with very watery eyes, flinching away from the source of the voice as he heard the speaker's barely concealed anger. Whilst the other man, this one a tall, rangy looking man with a hard face and thick, straw coloured hair, merely bowed lower from where he was knelt in front of the speaker.

"Master, circumstances have changed." Barty, the tall man replied quickly, his voice low and his tone subservient. "Things are not how they should be. The Potter boy, there is something off about him, something wrong."

"Wrong?" The voice hissed out, the anger fading now, only to be replaced with curiosity. "Speak, tell me what has you so shaken, so worried that you abandoned your post, and ruined my plan. Speak, and the reason had better be good…"

"Yes Master. Whilst I was posing as Moody, I had access to the Moody's magical eye, it allowed me to see through things. More than that though, it also allowed me to see magic. And when I looked at Potter." Barty paused here, clearly thinking over his words, his gaze flashing from his Master who was still ensconced in his chair, his scarlet eyes fixed unerringly on Barty, to the large snake, Nagini, that was wending its way around the winged back chair. "There is something wrong with the boy, something has changed. I no longer think it safe to use him in the ritual, he is an unknown variable and I fear a potentially dangerous one at that."

"That is not the answer I asked for Barty, I want to know what has changed, and why you deemed it necessary to throw everything we have been working for away, along with this perfect chance for getting at Harry Potter." The voice hissed again, the tone back to angry, the scarlet eyes flashing as they bored into Barty's eyes.

"He's doesn't look human anymore Master, internally he looks… wrong. There is something in his chest, a red stone or a gem I am not sure what, but it solid and emanates massive amounts of magic." Barty spoke quickly now, no longer dithering as he just told his Master everything he had seen. "More than there is just something unnatural about him. He went from normal to unnatural with no warning, and he knows magicks that he shouldn't, and has skill that is far beyond his age. On top of that there is the way he acts, the way he walks and talks, he is not the boy that Pettigrew described him to be, he's a killer, and a dangerous one at that Master. I recognised it instantly.

The creature in the chair didn't reply to that, instead it continued to watch Barty curiously, its gaze focused on Barty to the exclusion of all else. "Tell me all!" The voice was cold, callous and without pity as it demanded all, leaving no room for Barty to do anything else other than to submit to his order.

Barty nodded quickly at that, however before he could speak again he was cut off by Voldemort.

"I take it you brought the real Moody with you?" The voice asked again.

"Yes Master, he's still locked in the trunk." Barty nodded quickly.

"Good, he will do for now. Or at least until I get a better alternative." The voice mused to itself cryptically, making both of the other men in the room glance at each other worriedly, before looking back to their Master, with Barty then continuing to speak, his master watching on raptly as he did so.

 **(At Hogwarts, with Harry)**

 **( - )**

 _Dear Padfoot,_

 _It's Harry, just to clarify there is nothing wrong, I am just writing to check in as it's been a while since we last spoke, and even longer since we last saw each other. As you know I was selected as the fourth Champion in the Triwizard tournament, and had to get passed a dragon during the First Task. Well I completed the task, and did a good job of it too. Sorry I haven't written sooner I have just been very bust of late._

 _Still things have settled down now and I am no longer as isolated or as worked up as before. Hope you are well, wherever you are, and that you're keeping your head down and staying out of trouble._

 _I'm hoping to see you soon, maybe during the summer as I will certainly not be going back to the Dursley's home. My exact plans for the future are still somewhat in flux, but I can say that much at least. It doesn't matter how much Dumbledore wheedles and whines at me, he is just my Headmaster and therefore has no control over where or how I spend my summer._

 _He can't even claim to be my magical guardian anymore either, not after I take advantage of the loophole being selected for this ministry sanctioned tournament gives me. That being said, before you try and convince me otherwise this is not me asking for permission, nor will I ask for permission. This is merely me stating my decision and what's going to happen._

 _Still, this does mean I will have a lot more freedom this coming summer, and I would not be averse to spending some of it getting to properly know my godfather, as with all that has happened I've not had the chance._

 _Hope you are well._

 _Harry._

 **( - )**

Reading the letter he had just written back to himself, Harry nodded his head in satisfaction. Sure it was a bit clunky and awkward in places, but it got his point across.

On top of that it would assuage some of his guilty, after all he had all but forgotten about Sirius in everything that had been going on since he had leapt back in time and taken over the body of his younger self.

That was an oversight that he would now be correcting, after all his trip back in time didn't just give him another chance to be with the ones he loved, it also gave him the chance to not only save Sirius from an early death, but to also build a proper relationship with the man, something he hadn't had a chance to do original.

After all the first time around Sirius had died quite early on in Harry's life, in a wasteful and unnecessary way when Harry was just sixteen. His godfather had ended up dying due to his own recklessness, and Dumbledore's inability to keep his allies in the know about what was going on. With Sirius heading to the Department of Mysteries with a number of other Order Members, hoping to save Harry and his group from apparent danger when against Dumbledore's wishes he went to find and destroy the Prophecy.

It had all been a lie of course, Harry had not been there to begin with. Instead it had been a trap engineered by Voldemort, with the help of Bellatrix Lestrange and Kreature, one which had been done to lure some Dumbledore's more reactive supporters into an ambush to wipe them out, whilst also allowing the Dark Lord himself to reclaim the Prophecy. With Voldemort having also likely hoped to lure Harry into the fray with Sirius's presence, two birds with one stone so to speak.

That was what had happened previously though, this time around Harry was going ensure that he curtailed the worst of Sirius's impulsiveness, whilst also making sure that his godfather didn't find himself as one of Dumbledore's unknowing pawns.

It was ironic really that by this point it was the godson who was trying to look after the godfather, as oppose to the other way around.

Still he'd already tried to do that much in his letter, after all he was hopeful that he could move in with Sirius this year, at least until he was legally seventeen. Grimmauld Place was after all a treasure trove of interesting, if dark, artefacts and arcane knowledge, including one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Which is why this time around he would ensure that he was the one sorting the house out so he could check over everything they threw away, as last time around Molly Weasley had taken the lead, and although well intentioned, she had thrown away a lot of valuable stuff.

That being said he did take a kind of savage pleasure in parroting back the words Sirius had once said to him, back at him. Not that the man knew that, but Harry did.

'Keep your head down and stay out of trouble', at the time the hypocrisy of those words had grated on him greatly, especially considering Sirius's eventual fate. Despite that though they were sensible words to live by, or at least they were when you were on the run from the law.

Harry nodded again at that, before he looked stood up and pushed himself off of the floor of the owlery, his gaze shifting over all of the many owls sleeping on their perches as he searched out the Hedwig's familiar white plumage.

"Hey girl, you ready for a delivery?" Harry asked gently, as he softly stroked Hedwig feathery chest, a smile on his face as her head swivelled and her round amber eyes landed on him. Her head then tilting to the side as she eyed him, looking him up and down curiously, as if trying to work out whether something was different with him.

A few moments later though she shuffled on her perch to fully face him, barking a little bit as she nipped his finger gently. Though her amber eyes were still locked on him questioningly.

"Yep, I know you can probably sense I've changed a bit." Harry said with a smile, continuing his administrations as he heard her softly bark again. Hedwig had always been a very intuitive owl. "But it's still me. A bit older and darker, and maybe a little harsher and grimmer too, but still very much the same person you knew, deep down anyway."

Hedwig bobbed her head at that in acceptance, before she then lightly nipped his fingers again, after which she stuck out her leg expectantly, her amber eyes still fixed unblinkingly on Harry.

"Thanks, so anyway, I want you to take this to Sirius, and when you get back I'll have a whole plate of bacon waiting for you." Harry continued softly, giving her another scratch on the side of her neck as he finished attaching the letter. The smile on his face widening as he then took her to the window on his arm, after which she leapt off of it and out of the window, beating her wings a few times as she quickly took to the skies.

Standing at the window, Harry continued to smile as he watched his faithful owl wing off into the distance, her white, ghostly form soon disappearing into the overcast, grey sky.

Rolling his neck once she was out of sight, Harry then glanced down at the rest of the grounds, his gaze roving over the still snowy grounds, both Hagrid's cabin and the Beauxbaton carriage easily standing out as they stood not too far from the ever dark and forbidding Forbidden Forest. After which his gaze moved over to the dark, steely grey lake, parts of which he could see were already iced over.

The Second Task would be happening soon, in only a couple of weeks. Just like the last time, time seemed to be moving faster as the Second Task rapidly approached. Unlike the last time though, this was not due to any worry or stress on Harry's part, it was instead because he was just so happy at the moment, and wasn't the old adage; that time flew by when you were having fun.

It had been a couple of weeks now since the night of the Yule Ball, but in spite of that he was still buzzing from it. He still couldn't help but smile when he thought back on that night, it had been pretty damned great, and he had gotten to enjoy it with both Daphne and Cho.

And from what he had seen he wasn't the only one either, as even now when lessons had once again started, the students of all three schools still occasionally talked about the night. Reminiscing on how good it had been, and bemoaning the fact that there were not more events like that, whilst also gossiping about the different couples at the Ball.

Suffice to say that gossip included the Harry/ Cho pairing, though thankfully due to Cho's growing popularity and Harry's growing reputation as the real Hogwart's champion, brought about by Cedric's horrific injuries and Harry's positon in the leader board, most of the gossip was pretty harmless.

Of course there had also been some fall out too from that night. For one Ron as now completely ignoring Harry's very existence, and had seemingly cut Hermione out of his life too as he instead just hung about Longbottom now. Similarly Hermione was barely ever seen in the Gryffindor Common Room now, as she instead spent all her time with Viktor Krum. Both of them by now seemed to have decided to take the hint and go their own separate ways.

Which for Harry was not a bad thing. He would still keep an eye on the trio of potential troublemakers, or rather Dobby two would the fanatical House Elf having been more than happy to keep an eye on those that might cause the 'great Master Harry Potter sir' harm. But still Harry was thankful they would no longer be hassling him or haunting his footsteps.

Unfortunately other things had come from the Yule Ball too, things that Harry had not thought about, or remembered, even if he probably should have. Rita Skeeter, the venomous, cruel and loathsome reporter had once again been causing chaos.

A couple of days after the Ball, she had once again published her article about Hagrid's heritage as a half-giant, which like before had caused the Hogwarts rumour mill to practically expolde, especially when Hagrid didn't come out of his cabin for a couple of weeks after the article and didn't turn up to work. Or at least he not until someone, most likely Dumbledore, had slapped some sense into him at least and got him to stop feeling sorry for himself and get back to work.

Skeeter again was someone Harry had dismissed as unimportant in the grand scheme of things. He had forgotten how vindictive she could be as it had been decades since he had last read one of her poisonous articles, or of how damaging her articles were.

Suffice to say now she had his attention, and considering he knew her little Animagus secret, he would soon be putting a stop to her writing her nasty articles about the people Harry cared about. Especially considering his budding relationship with Cho, and his growing friendship with Daphne, those were things he definitely wanted to protect.

That being said he was tempted to use blackmail and intimidation to weaponise Skeeter, and direct her to tearing down Harry's enemies, and creating propaganda that Harry could build on going forwards. Especially when he reconnected with the Coven, and once again began aiding them in pursuing their goal, their endgame.

Harry smiled at that thought. It had been too long since he had seen some of his comrades, not that any of them would know him in this timeline yet. But they soon would, when he was ready he would once again reach out to them, he might have gone renegade towards the end, in regards to his ritual based time travel, but that didn't mean he had forgotten the cause.

That however was a thought for another time. He could enact those plans later on, once he had gone through the drudgery of the tournament and solidified his relationships with Cho and Daphne. Which at present, was something that was going pretty well.

After all ever since the night of the Yule Ball both he and Cho had been seeing one another more and more. Both of them spending as much time as they could with one another, whilst also taking into account that Cho was in the midst of her OWL year at present, which of course limited her free time especially since she was a quintessential studious Ravenclaw when it came to exams.

Still Harry got some one on one time whilst teaching her more about Runes and Spellbinding, on top of which they spent their free evenings and weekends together too whenever they could. It was pretty pleasant, though he was still keeping certain things from her, such as his origins, his history and what he was up to in the Chamber of Secrets. All of which he believed was better left unsaid for the time being. So yes, other than that their relationship had been progressing well

Similarly after that night Daphne had been being slightly more open and friendly. Nowadays when Harry bothered her after lessons she actually responded in a slightly friendlier manner, as too did her friends Tracey and Blaise, as opposed to trying to par him off or get rid of him.

On top of that both Cho and Daphne had also struck up a new friendship ever since the Ball the both of them had somehow, over a single night become close friends. With the two of them going out of their way to meet up and chat with one another in the corridors. Which Harry personally thought was great, he was genuinely glad the two of them were getting along, as he had been worried their might be some clash and conflict between their two strong personalities.

Smiling slightly at that, Harry turned and headed back into the castle. Quickly heading down from the tower and through the busy, bustling halls. Smiling and nodding to those who he passed, nearly all of whom had now dispensed of their 'Support Cedric Diggory/ Potter Stinks' badges. A taken gesture he appreciated, even if he wasn't too fond of all of the snotty, flighty students of Hogwarts. Most of whom he knew would turn him into a pariah as willingly as they would praise him with just a flip of the coin, bloody herd mentality.

His smile though soon turned into a frown the minute he snuck into the girl's bathroom on the second floor and descended down to the Chamber of Secrets, using the stairs that ran parallel to the slide this time to descend into the darkness, his glowing green eyes standing out in the gloom. Already he was missing having Dobby One as a personal mode of transportation throughout the school, it was always so much easier and faster to teleport places with Elf magic than to walk places.

Still a little bit of extra exercise was the least of Harry's worries at the moment. Not when there was another far more pressing issue anyway, one that had him pretty concerned, and was the reason for Dobby One's absence.

Alastor 'May-Eye' Moody had gone missing, or rather the imposter that had been taking his place, Barty Crouch Junior, had disappeared.

Harry was not exactly sure on all of the details, and no amount of digging helped as the only teachers who he knew likely knew for sure, Dumbledore and McGonagall, would never tell him. Nor were any of the other teachers being forthcoming, all of them instead parroting the excuse Dumbledore had given that Moody had left for 'personal' reasons.

But what he did know however was that sometime after the Yule Ball, Crouch had disappeared from Hogwarts.

The exact when, Harry wasn't sure of, as the first Harry had known of Crouch's absence was when lessons started again and Moody had stopped teaching his classes. After which he had checked the Marauder's Map only to see that Crouch was nowhere on the Hogwarts' grounds. And after subtly breaking into his office Harry had similarly found all of his possessions gone and the room stripped bare.

The day after Moody's absence had become widely known, Dumbledore had given his 'personal reasons' excuse to the school at breakfast, one that certainly did not ring true to Harry, or at least in the way Dumbledore had said it. His disappearance though could potentially be due to an issue with Crouch Senior, who Harry vaguely remembered was currently being held under the imperious curse by this point, and was currently absent from work, but even so Harry doubted this was the case.

Either way Dumbledore had then gone on to say; that until Moody returned, or a suitable replacement could be found, a supply teacher would be taking the Defence against the Dark Art's classes.

The teacher in question, an American wizard called Atticus Fletcher, was a distinctly bland, and boring looking middle aged man, with thick spectacles, a balding pate and a thin, wheezy voice. With him having been a recent arrival to Britain, one who had had good references from a small magic school in America and had jumped at the chance to teach at one of the premier schools of magic in the world.

Suffice to say the man could get the job done, but he wasn't spectacular, after all he was a so-so wizard who lacked in charisma and was obviously struggling, despite him using existing lesson plans. That being said he was still better than Lockhart.

Still pointless education aside, Harry was more concerned about what Crouch's disappearance would mean to future events.

After all the first time around Crouch hadn't left the school after the Yule Ball, instead he had stuck it out till the end of the tournament, helping and prompting Harry whenever he could so that he would make it to the Third Task with a considerable lead. Fulfilling his mission to get Harry to the Triwizard Cup, which he had turned into a Portkey, and then from there to the graveyard in Little Hangleton where Riddle and Pettigrew had been waiting.

That was what had happened last time, and it had ended in Voldemort being ritually reborn with a new body, ready to once again reign terror on the wizarding world as he attempted to force his warped ideology on others.

Honestly Harry had been expecting that to be the case again. In fact he had planned for those very events to occur this time around too. He had purposefully not moved against Crouch so that the man's plan would succeed, only instead of being the victim Harry would reverse the trap and kill not only the weakened Voldemort and measly Pettigrew, but also entice Voldemort's most loyal followers to the graveyard where he would kill them too.

His plan had been solid, he was sure it would work. Now though, now he didn't know what was going to happen.

He was in unchartered territory now, which also meant that much of his knowledge of what was supposed to happen this year was now potentially worthless. After all he had no idea where or why Crouch had gone, nor did he know where Voldemort and Pettigrew were lurking.

He had set Dobby One on their trail, trusting his loyal friend to try and track down any leads as he attempted to find out what was going on. But he didn't have much hope, Voldemort although mad, was incredibly cunning, and Crouch was also a very capable wizard. The two of them together and on the loose was a dangerous combination.

Harry grit his teeth at that thought. Although it was true he hadn't come back to just deal with Voldemort, he had been planning on neutralising him as a threat all the same, similar to his approach to the potential Light Lords, if only to ensure he didn't bother Harry later on. It was supposed to be an easy task, especially use his knowledge of future events, but he had fucked up. How was he supposed to know Crouch, who was obsessive and fanatical loyalty to Voldemort, would abandon his post?

Still all was not lost yet. Harry had after all already destroyed a key component of the ritual that Voldemort wanted to use to regain his body, his father's bones. On top of which Harry himself was another ingredient Voldemort wanted, and at present he was safe and sound at Hogwarts. On top of which, due to the ritual he had performed on himself earlier Harry's blood was no longer compatible, as technically he no longer classified as human.

It was a difficult and frustrating situation, but all it meant for the moment was that he would have to be more careful moving forwards.

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime later, in the great hall)**

 **( - )**

 _Harry,_

 _It's good to hear from you. I've been following your progress in the tournament and I have to say I'm impressed. I had no idea you were capable of that kind of magic, honestly it was beyond what I was going to suggest you should do, I was just going to suggest a conjunctivitis curse to the dragon's eyes._

 _As for me, don't worry, I am perfectly fine. I've moved back down to London and am in a safe and secure place, I'll tell you more about it at a later date, hopefully in person._

 _I'm glad things seemed to have settled down a bit more for you at school. I am sure your performance against the dragon contributed a lot to that. If you have need any help with the other Tasks or anything else, I am here. I am more than happy to head back to Hogsmeade and stay there, the same as before. The important thing now is to get you safely through the tournament. Don't get me wrong, winning would be nice, but your safety is the priority here._

 _On that note, I would be more than happy to have you visit me this summer. Though I am worried about what that would mean, you do remember I am on the run from the law don't you? There is also the issue of safety, Dumbledore is having you stay with the Dursleys for a reason, and no matter how unpleasant that might be I think you should do as he says._

 _I am not sure where this sudden animosity is coming from, but Dumbledore, despite not being the easiest at times, is trustworthy and tends to know what is best._

 _This is especially important considering the recent influx in dark activities of late, and not just here in Britain but on the rest of the continent too. Something is coming Harry, I am sure Dumbledore like the others is reading the signs. This is no time to be being reckless._

 _We can discuss meeting up in summer at a later date, I would like for it to happen. But not if it means putting you in danger._

 _Stay well and stay safe, and more than anything stay vigilant._

 _Write me again soon._

 _Padfoot._

 **( - )**

There was a distinct scowl on Harry's face as he read Sirius's letter. It had not been what he was expecting, then again he wasn't really sure what he had been expecting if he was being honest with himself. After all he knew very little about Sirius in the grand scheme of things. But still, despite that he had not expected that Sirius would tell him to listen to Dumbledore.

No, instead he had expected Sirius to gleefully encourage him to break Dumbledore's rules and throw off his shackles. He hadn't thought Sirius would take the old man's side over Harry's. It was a bit of a blow to the gut really, and one Harry didn't really know how to react too.

"Hey, Harry mate, are you alright?" Dean asked from the other side of the table, with him like the others having noticed the distinct frown on Harry's face as he read through Sirius's letter.

"Yeah, just had a bit of an unexpected letter is all." Harry replied softly, folding the letter up as he did so before he then slipped it into his pocket. He would have to read it again later, and think up a suitable response. Despite the content, he already knew that he wasn't going to give up on trying to get Sirius out from under Dumbledore's thumb, only now he would have to think of another way to do it.

"Oooh, really, who from?" Lavender butted in nosily, elongating her words as she attempted to see the letter, only for Harry to have already put it away safe from prying eyes.

"A friend." Harry replied easily, giving her a faintly amused look as he did so. "It's just a letter from a friend is all, it's nothing too bad though."

"Which friend?" Lavender continued, once again trying to pry.

"Leave it Lav, it's his business." Dean groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, besides it's nothing important." Harry shot back, before he stood up from the breakfast table, absentmindedly scratching Hedwig behind the ears as he did so, eliciting a response as the owl looked up from her half-finished plate of bacon and gave Harry a curious look and hooted softly. Only for Harry to grab his bag and make to leave the table. "But anyway I'll catch up with you lot later, I've got some stuff to do, you know tournament stuff."

"Oh yeah, for the Second Task." Seamus nodded, before he sent Harry a slight frown. "Damn Potter it's only a week away, you sure like leaving things late don't you?"

"Nah, it's not like that, I already know what I need to do. No, I just need to do a little more practice so it's all alright on the day." Harry lied, easily waving off his friends' concerns. After all he could hardly tell them that he was ditching them so he could go down to the Chamber of Secrets, where he would craft a letter to the convicted murder Sirius Black and then once again meet with the House Elf he had searching for Crouch. Only for Dobby One to once again come back with no results like the last couple of times, which would in turn then lead to him lashing out in frustration and using the statue of Salazar Slytherin in the chamber as therapeutic target practice. All whilst ignoring Dobby's complaints about how Harry is making extra work for him.

No, it was probably best to lie.

"That's fair enough mate, we'll see you later then." Dean nodded, with the dark skinned wizard being the easiest going of the bunch as he just gave Harry a half wave, easily accepting his excuse.

"Or will you be spending time with Cho instead?" Lavender cooed.

"Probably for a while, but I'm sure I'll meet up with you lot in the common room later." Harry shot back unconcerned, smirking slightly in spite of himself as he saw the disappointed expression on Lavender's face at his lack of reaction.

With that said, Harry swung his bag over his shoulder, and sent Cho a wave and smile when he caught her eye as she sat down for breakfast with some friends over at the Ravenclaw table, knowing as he did that she had a double period of Transfiguration this morning, and that he probably wouldn't see her until lunch. After which he tried to search out Daphne, only to see her two friends but not the blonde herself, though that was likely due to her heading to class early, that or coming down to breakfast late, as knowing her like he did it could have been either.

With that done he sent a look at the partially empty staff table, absent both Dumbledore and McGonagall, and then headed out of the doors of the great hall before the morning traffic, which consisted of all the students trying to head to lessons at the same time, started. With him then absentmindedly skirting around the crowd of people at the Hufflepuff table as he did so, all of whom were crowded around the recently returned Cedric Diggory.

The likely, heavily scarred boy in question completely hidden from view at the moment as his housemates continued to swarm him with welcome.

Sending the crowd of yellow and black clad students an interested look, Harry was disappointed to find he couldn't see Cedric, as honestly he was kind of curious to see what the formerly handsome boy looked like now.

When he couldn't though he instead just headed through the doors, nipping past a couple of Beauxbaton students who were just entering for a late breakfast as he did so. Including Fleur, to whom he merely sent a friendly nod and a smile too, one she happily reciprocated with a flash of white teeth, her sky blue eyes sparkling as she greeted him.

From there he took several secret passages heading for a certain bathroom on the second floor, bypassing the library, within which he could see both Krum and Hermione hunched over a desk together, despite it still being quite early in the morning. No doubt they were still perfecting Krum's strategy for the Second Task. Hopefully they would at least be able to come up with something better than that terrible, partial human transfiguration Krum had done last time around.

Shaking his head at that, Harry took another shortcut and popped out from behind a tapestry a half dozen metres from the second floor girl's bathroom. Barely stopping in his stride as he then nipped through the doors, ignoring the slight gurgle of Myrtle from one of the U-bends as he instead quickly opened up the secret entrance to the Chamber.

After which he headed into the gloom of the Chamber of Secrets. All the while oblivious of the curious blonde haired girl who had noticed him heading into the girl's bathroom only moments before, with her entering behind him to investigate what he was up too, just as the Chamber's secret entrance began to close.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So yep not much to say here other than that I hoped you enjoyed the chapter? Honestly I have been kind of hoping to cover the Second Task too, but decided to leave it till next chapter instead. That being said there were some important bits and pieces of information in this chapter too, some of which I have been eluding too and implying for quite a few chapters now.**

 **No doubt quite a few have picked up on it and now have a good idea of where I got my influence and what my idea actually entails.**

 **That being said I received a review recently referencing the similarities between Voldemort and Harry. That is deliberate, for reasons that will be explained in the story. There will be great similarities and great differences, similarly with Dumbledore as all three of them represent and embody different ideologies.**

 **But yeah anyway as I said it will all be explained.**

 **So yeah I hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave a review. Also if you have the time please check out my other stories.**

 **I in fact recently started a new Harry Potter story called Momento Mori, as far as I know it's a somewhat unique idea as far as HP stories go, so might be worth a read to see whether you like it.**

 **So yep, please review and thanks for reading and I'll catch you all later.**

 **Greed720.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hey all so here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it and leave a review.**

 **Also if you have some spare time please do check out some of my other stories.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _From there he took several secret passages heading for a certain bathroom on the second floor, bypassing the library, within which he could see both Krum and Hermione hunched over a desk together, despite it still being quite early in the morning. No doubt they were still perfecting Krum's strategy for the Second Task. Hopefully they would at least be able to come up with something better than that terrible, partial human transfiguration Krum had done last time around._

 _Shaking his head at that, Harry took another shortcut and popped out from behind a tapestry a half dozen metres from the second floor girl's bathroom. Barely stopping in his stride as he then nipped through the doors, ignoring the slight gurgle of Myrtle from one of the U-bends as he instead quickly opened up the secret entrance to the Chamber._

 _After which he headed into the gloom of the Chamber of Secrets. All the while oblivious of the curious blonde haired girl who had noticed him heading into the girl's bathroom only moments before, with her entering behind him to investigate what he was up too, just as the Chamber's secret entrance began to close._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 13**

 **( - )**

 **(With Harry, at Hogwarts)**

It was quite early in the morning that Harry left his 'lair' in the Chamber of Secrets, once again going by foot as he emerged into the second floor girl's bathroom via the secret entrance, with him having both Dobby's busy on their own respective tasks, busy enough that he wasn't going to be abusing their elven apparition just for the sake of it.

Noticeably as he emerged from the Chamber his hair was more mussed up than usual, and his usual school robes were absent, with them having instead been replaced with his plain black tournament robes. Which were far sportier than his usual robes, and which had a purple trim along the edges and the schools crest on the back and over the right breast. Today was the day of the Second Task, and he was running late.

For Harry the last week seemed to have gone by far faster than usual. It seemed like he had only managed to grab a few moments with Cho over the last few days, and had only seen his year mates intermittently in between lessons too.

Though in Cho's case this was partially because she had was busy with school work, and partially because she had been taken to Dumbledore's office the previous evening where she had likely been put into an enchanted sleep for the upcoming task. Which was something Harry had already warned her might happen. On top of which he had also told her that she could probably opt out if she wanted, not that the sometimes foolishly brave girl even considered doing such a thing.

For the most part, just like the first time around, it had felt like time had sped up in the prelude to the Second Task.

That being said the first time around it had been due mainly to his nerves. After all he had only found out what the task was quite late on, and only after the imposter Moody had almost blown his cover in order to help him, which had meant that he had barely been able to come up with a suitable method to complete the task by the time it began.

This time though Harry knew exactly what the Task entailed, he knew where the Mer Village in the Black Lake was, and he had a definite idea of how he would accomplish the Task.

He was prepared, and confident. But despite that it still felt like time was moving faster than it should be. Though admittedly that might be due to the ongoing Crouch issue, which even after a week of searching and planning he was no closer to solving.

Something had spooked Crouch, and whatever it was it had made him suddenly leave his post and therefore change his plans. Harry had already thought of the possibility that Crouch, if he was observant, had picked up in Harry's change in character, and had been further put off-guard by Harry's use of Spellbinding, which could explain his sudden irrational actions. But even so Harry didn't think that that would have been enough to scare off a fanatic like Crouch, and certainly not enough to stop him from carrying out his master's orders.

For that reason Harry had hypothesized that something might have happened externally, something which caused Voldemort to change his plans. Perhaps it could have been the realisation that his father's bones were missing from the graveyard, though again Harry considered that possibility unlikely, after all the first time around he had witnessed Wormtail summoning the bones from the grave during the ritual.

What made all this worse, was that Harry still hadn't been able to find the man, or Voldemort and Wormtail either. All three of them were in the wind and up to who knows what, it was a problem.

Still, it was also a problem that could wait for the moment.

For now he had Dobby on the case.

Once Harry had gotten through this task and rescued Cho though, then he would probably need to put more thought into planning out his next steps.

With that thought in mind, Harry closed up the entrance to the Chamber behind him and then turned and checked his appearance out in the mirror, absentmindedly trying to tame his bed head, not that there was much point as he would be taking a dip in the Black Lake in an hour's time.

"So Potter, do I really want to know just what you are doing in a girl's bathroom?" An amused, yet familiar female voice suddenly sounded out, causing Harry to jump slightly as he turned from the mirror and looked around for the speaker, his hand instinctively going for his wand. His green eyes flashing as they flickered around the empty bathroom, only to land on the speaker moments later.

It was Daphne, and at present she was standing just behind him, leaning against one of the bathroom walls, still wearing her school uniform. Her thick, golden blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, revealing her partly amused, partly suspicious violet eyes that were currently locked unerringly on Harry. The expression on her face all but inscrutable to him, as it was impossible to tell is she was angered by Harry's presence in the girl's bathroom, or amused, or maybe a bit of both.

What Harry was certain of though, was that she had not just entered the room, he would have noticed the door opening. Which of course meant that she must have been here before Harry emerged from the Chamber, which in turn meant that she must have almost certainly seen Harry walk out of entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Not that she likely knew that where he had come from was the Chamber of Secrets though.

"Daphne." Harry said, forcing a smile on his face as he turned and ruffled his hair one more time, after which he stowed his wand away and walked over to her. "This is a surprise!"

"For you maybe," Daphne replied dryly, "For me it's an inconvenience, I've been waiting here for nearly thirty minutes now. I was beginning to get impatient."

"You were waiting for me?" Harry asked carefully, tilting his head to one side innocently as he did so. "In a girl's bathroom?"

"Yes, initially I will admit I suspected you might have had lecherous intentions for coming in here." Daphne said, pushing herself off of the wall now, her eyes never breaking away from Harry's own, even as his right eye twitched at her accusations. "That's why I initially followed you, I was going to castigate you and end this budding companionship you seemed to be trying to build with me."

"I see, but I assume there is a 'but' here?" Harry asked calmly, hiding his sudden nervousness at her words. If there was one thing he didn't want to do it was to push Daphne away, which is exactly what would have happened if the part Veela girl had thought him some kind of pervert. The Daphne he had known had no patience for that sort of person, and had always had a mean streak when it came to dishing out retribution to those she disapproved of.

Daphne smiled at that question, after which she walked past Harry and over to the sink. Her gaze flickering over it as she examined it, only for her gaze to land on one of the taps, one which she knew from experience did not work, a pewter tap which had a small, barely visible serpent carved on side of it.

"So where does this entrance lead too?" Daphne asked, one of her long, delicate fingers tracing the outline of the serpent. "I have an idea based on the events of our second year, but I would like to hear it from you."

Now Harry could lie right now, he was under no obligation to tell the truth or reveal any of his secrets. Instead he could just claim it was a passage that led out of the castle, or wherever else he desired. Honestly he was a good enough actor that he reckoned he could make something up right now, and probably persuade Daphne too.

But honestly he didn't see the point, by the sounds of it she already had an idea of where the entrance led, and really he felt neither the need nor desire to lie to her.

"It goes to the Chamber of Secrets of course." Harry shrugged, walking over so he was standing next to her as she once again turned and met his gaze. "It's where I've been staying for a while now. Partly because of privacy, after all only a Parselmouth can open the entrance, and partly because of convenience. I mean seriously, you have no idea how unpleasant it is to share a room with four loud, smelly, teenage boys..."

Daphne's lips quirked upward in amusement as she heard his last comment, only for her gaze to then sharpen. "So this is where you hide away when you don't want company, interesting. I take it you don't know why the entrance is in a girl's bathroom of all places?"

Harry shrugged as he heard that, a slight smile spreading across his face. "No idea, though it could be because old Salazar Slytherin was a massive pervert, and had a fixation on young girls..."

Daphne laughed softly at that, before she shook her head. "You do of course know he is one of the founders of the school, and the creator of my House?"

"And Snape is your Head of House, hardly a ringing endorsement for the House of the cunning and ambitious." Harry replied dryly, a smile spreading across his own face as he saw a flash of amusement in Daphne's eyes.

"So, what's it like down there?" Daphne asked suddenly, a flash of eager excitement passing through her eyes now.

"I can show you if you want." Harry replied easily, a slight smile on his face as he saw her excitement. "I mean I've made some changes since I moved in, but it is still pretty impressive."

Daphne nodded as she heard that. "I would love to have a look around, but what of Slytherin's Monster?"

"Dead and hanging from the ceiling as a trophy." Harry shrugged, before he smirked as he saw fascination flash through her eyes this time. "I can tell you the story of what happened too if you want?"

Daphne once again nodded eagerly at that, only for the eagerness to fade moments later as she suddenly sent Harry a suspicious look. "Why are you being so nice?"

"Do I need a reason?" Harry replied, cocking an eyebrow.

"From my experience most people do." Daphne replied quickly.

"Most, but not me. That being said I would prefer it if you didn't go around and tell anyone what you saw, or about the Chamber of Secrets." Harry said, locking gazes with the blonde again now.

"Oh don't worry, I wasn't going to tell anyone. Not unless it benefitted me in some way, and honestly, that's only really because I am a consummate Slytherin, and it's in my nature." Daphne shrugged easily the edges of her mouth tilting upwards in a sly smile.

"That's good to know I suppose…" Said Harry, a bemused smile on his own face, before he then glanced down at his watch. "But as much as I would like to take you down there now and show you around, I am afraid I have a task that I need to get too."

"Oh of course, I didn't mean right now. But I would like to see Salazar Slytherin's secret chamber at some point. I'd also like to see his monster, this rumoured Basilisk I've heard about too." Daphne nodded, her blonde ponytail bouncing up and down as she did so.

"Then it's a date." Harry replied with a bright grin.

"A date Potter?" Daphne asked in amusement, cocking an elegant eyebrow. "I am not sure Cho would like that…"

Harry tilted his head to the side as he heard that, watching Daphne carefully now as he did so. Cho and Daphne had been spending a lot of time together since the Yule Ball, Harry knew that much. That of course meant he had to be very careful in what he said and how he approached them, after all he loved both of the girls, and was being very selfish in the fact that he wanted to be with both of them.

"I'm joking Potter! "Daphne said after a few moments of silence, rolling her eyes as he did so. "By maeve you need to relax a little?"

Harry couldn't help but scoff as he heard that.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Daphne asked shrewdly.

"I think it was an expression of amusement at the irony of your most recent statement." Harry replied glibly, a sly smile floating across his lips. "I mean it is pretty funny that someone as tightly wound as you is telling me I need to relax."

"As tightly wound as me?" Daphne repeated, her eyes flashing and the faint allure she constantly gave off intensifying for a moment as she eyed Harry up and down.

"Absolutely," Harry continued on boldly, the cocky smirk still playing around his mouth. "I mean you can barely even relax enough to call me Harry, not even in private like right now."

Daphne didn't reply to that statement, not at first anyway. Instead she just continued to eye Harry shrewdly, almost as if she were analysing him, weighing what he said and what she knew of him up, as she came up with a response.

"There is a sense of propriety that those in Slytherin need to conduct themselves with. Especially when engaging with certain people, or certain groups of people." Daphne began, choosing her words very carefully now as she did do. "There are certain people in my House, people with influence, either due to their family names, or personally in the school or the House, who can make things difficult for those who do not 'tow the party line' so to speak."

"And you are afraid of these people, and so censure yourself of because of that?" Harry asked provocatively, he already knew a little bit about this from his conversations with the original Daphne, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting it all in the open here and now though.

"Afraid? No, I wouldn't say that. Hogwarts, despite what some may say, is one of the safest places in Britain. There is no threat of physical harm, or anything of that nature. Isolation and exclusionary tactic though, and House wide condemnation, those are all possible forms of retribution for those that don't play the game." Daphne replied, her violet eyes flashing dangerously for a moment at Harry's insinuation of fear, before they returned to normal once she figured out he had done what he had, in order to try to provoke a reaction on purpose. It was cute, and quite clever really, she could respect that, but she wouldn't fall for it.

"Think of it this way Potter, or Harry if you wish, I am part Veela and part witch. There are some in my House, a vocal minority, that believe me to be a half breed, or to have dirty blood because of this fact. Fortunately my family name, and the friends I have acquired protect me from the worst of my House, or rather the dozen or so hard-core Blood Purists that infest my House. But you could say I am on constant thin ice with some."

"Now spending time and having fun with Cho and some of the Ravenclaws, that's not a problem at all, none of my Housemates would bat an eye at it so long as none of them are muggleborns. Spending time with some of the Gryffindors in my year at the Yule Ball, well that raised a few eyebrows but nothing more than that. Most of the older years, the ones with the real influence in the school and House, have mostly grown out of petty House rivalries, or have at least matured enough to start thinking about life outside of school. As such although I received a few nasty comments, and insults from some of the members of my year and some below me, the reaction was for the most part neutral."

"Fraternising with the Boy-Who-Lived though, the one that is reputed to have vanquished You Know Who, Dumbledore's favourite and the one who has personally helped his House win the House Cup for the last few years. Well that would gain me the enmity of more than a few of my Housemates, mainly the ones whose parents were 'accused' of having connections to He Who Must Not Be Named…."

Daphne trailed off there, her lips a thin line and her brow slightly furrowed. "I don't like it Harry, but overtly befriending you would cause me quite bit of trouble and hassle. Trouble and hassle I could frankly do without."

"But covertly befriending me?" Harry asked, catching her choice of wording there.

"Well depending on how tactful you can be, that would not be as much of an issue. In fact you could almost say I would be potentially interested in exploring such an option." Daphne said, not looking at him now, though he did notice the slight pink tinge on her cheeks now.

"Daphne Greengrass!" Harry asked, a growing smile on his face now. "Are you insinuating that we should strike up a secret friendship?"

Daphne's cheeks turned even redder as she heard that. "Don't be a prat Harry."

Harry let out a slight chuckle as he heard that, catching her attention as she looked up at him once again. "Well fine, if you are okay with it, then I would love to be friends with you. Even if we have to keep it on the sly for the time being."

"Good." Daphne replied with a short nod, her lips twitching upwards now into a slight smile. Only for her eyes to widen as she glanced down and saw Harry's watch. "Though first I think you should probably start running, you're about to be late for the Second Task?"

"Wha…?" Harry began, his face scrunching up in confusion, before his eyes widened and he looked down at his watch. "Shit, you're right, Dobby One!"

At his word Dobby One appeared in a crack, the little elf having only enough time to notice Daphne, his large green eyes widening even as his lips curved upward into a wide smirk, before Harry's next words got his attention.

"Dobby I need a lift down to the Black Lake!" Harry said quickly, he had five minutes to get down there now, after all the Champions were all supposed to meet in the Champion's tent fifteen minutes before the Task officially started.

"And there I was thinking you were going to stop using me as a mode of transportation." Dobby said dryly, grabbing Harry's arm as he did so, even as his gaze continued to flick back over to Daphne, the wry smile on his face softening at the sight of the blonde.

"Oh hush up and give me a lift" Harry retorted with a roll of his eyes, before he sent a crooked smile over to the surprised looking Daphne. "Thanks for the warning Daph, I'll catch you later!"

"Right, that's…" Daphne nodded, somewhat taken aback by this sudden explosion of activity, only for her to pause mid-sentence as she heard what he had said. "Wait did you just call me Daph?"

Her only response was a grin and a wink from Harry, before he vanished in a crack, easily circumventing the anti-apparition spells that covered Hogwarts through use of a House Elf.

"He can be so frustrating sometimes." Daphne muttered to herself moments after Harry disappeared, shaking her head as she did so, even as he lips curved into a smile. She had to get down to the lake herself now she thought about it, as she didn't want to miss the Second Task either, even if she were only spectating.

 **( - )**

 **(At the shore of the Black Lake)**

Arriving a few dozen metres from the shore of the Black Lake, quite close to an old willow tree and just out of site of the Champion's tent. Harry only had time to give Dobby a quick thank you and a pat on the shoulder before the little being disappeared with a soft crack, his diminutive friend once again heading off to accomplish his own designated task.

With Dobby having spent the last few weeks tracking down all the leads he could as he attempted to find the location of Voldemort and Crouch, which included monitoring known Death Eaters in case of contact and known haunts like the old Riddle House and the Crouch' Mansion.

Thus far though, he had not met with any success. In fact it was getting to the point at which Harry was tempted to call Dobby off and instead do something a little more extreme, such as contacting his old/ future Coven. Though that wasn't something he was keen on doing this early on, as it would bring with it problems in and of itself.

Entering the Champion's tent a few moments later, Harry immediately noticed he was the last Champion to arrive. Viktor Krum was already present and wearing what looked like a muggle wet suit, a surly scowl on his face as he leant against a tent pole and tugged at the tight fitting material. He soon stopped though when Harry entered, his dark eyes instead fixing speculatively on Harry, roving up and down his robed form almost condescendingly.

Looking away Harry could see that Fleur Delacour was also present, perhaps commanding the most attention due to her silver swimsuit, an outfit that certainly showed off her curvaceous figure and full breasts. Smiling slightly as she saw him, Fleur flicked back her silvery hair and graced him with a bright smile, her blue eyes seeming to sparkle as they met his green ones.

The last Champion in the room, Cedric Diggory, seemed to be less pleased to see him, and was also nowhere near as attractive. Suffice to say Cedric's previously handsome and dashing features were no more, instead his much of face and one of his arms and legs, both of which were visible due to him wearing a vest and shorts combo, were horrifically scarred. In fact the skin along his right arm, his right leg and two thirds of his face and neck looked like it had been melted, disfiguring his features horribly. On top of that his hair was now completely shaved off, likely due to the melted flesh Harry could see on the top of his head and his left eye looked unnaturally shiny. Harry presumed it was some kind of enchanted glass replacement.

At present the other Hogwart's Champion was sending Harry a cold, almost angry look. With him having set himself as far away from the other two Champions as he could, with him standing on the other side of the tent to them, his grey eyes shifting hatefully over all of those present, though most noticeably his gaze seemed to be at its most vindictive when it landed on Harry.

Cedric blamed him for his condition that much was obvious.

Likely he had figured out that the other three Champions had all cheated and had known what the mystery task was beforehand, and had thus had had the opportunity to plan and prepare for what they would do when facing the dragons.

On top of that, what he must have also realised was that none of them had bothered to forewarn him. They had all known how dangerous the task was, and because it was a hotly contested competition, they had not come to him and told him of the dragons.

For a Hufflepuff, a member of the House of loyalty and fair play this must have been an especially bitter realisation. It was also likely why he was so angry with Harry, after all they went to the same school together and so should have looked out for one another. Plus the fact that Harry had done so well, humiliating the 'older' boy, must have just made the entire situation worse.

"Excellent, excellent, and here is our last Champion, welcome Harry!" Ludo Bagman's boisterous voice rang out, immediately catching Harry's attention as he tore his gaze away from the glowering Cedric and instead looked over to the portly Head of Department. The large blonde man in question having broken off from his conversation with the other judges, the three heads of the schools, and Percy Weasley, who appeared was once again standing in for Barty Crouch.

Which, Harry noted, likely meant that Barty Crouch's situation had not yet been realised by those in power, which meant he was still being controlled by his son, and therefore still probably sending letters to the Ministry with his instructions from wherever he was being held.

'That could be useful'. Harry thought as he thought about ways of tracking mail, it was another possible avenue of inquiry which could provide an opportunity for Dobby to find Voldemort's new hideout without Harry having to reveal himself, or involve himself, with the Coven yet.

"Right, right, anyway now that we are all here, let us begin!" Bagman forged on, practically vibrating with excitement as he waved for all four students to gather round.

"This is of course just an explanation of what will be expected of you in this task, though I am sure by now you have all worked out the golden egg's clue." Bagman continued looking around cheerily at the four Champions, though his smile did noticeably fade slightly when he saw Cedric's face. "Mr Diggory of course, due to the incident during the First Task, did not have the golden egg to solve. However, in agreement with the other judges, it was decided to give him the egg to solve whilst he was in St Mungos, though due to his failure to complete the task before he has been docked points, and as such has only received twenty points out of fifty for his intended method of getting passed the dragon."

If possible Cedric's scowl became even fiercer at this, even as the other two Champions glanced at him. Krum trying and failing to look nonchalant, though a hint of discomfort could be seen in his gaze. Fleur meanwhile just gave him a sad, piteous look, which just seemed to inflame the boy even further.

As for Harry he just glanced at Cedric then dismissed him. It was a pity he had been messed up like he had, but Harry wasn't going to lose any sleep over it.

Perhaps if Cedric had attempted to curtail his House and their lesser than stellar reaction to Harry being chosen as Champion before the First Task, then he might have felt more pity. But honestly Cedric had been a bit of an arsehole.

Did that justify him being burnt by dragon fire?

Well no, of course not, but did it justify Harry not going out of his way to help him?

Yes, yes it did, which is why Harry felt no guilt about what happened, no matte how much Cedric glared at him and sent him looks of condemnation. He wasn't the one that bathed him in dragon fire, nor did he organise the tournament, all he did was play the game.

"Yes well…" Bagman trailed off slightly awkwardly.

"As Ludo was just saying, you should all now know what the task ahead is, and as such be well prepared for it. But to make sure, what you will be doing is going into the lake to retrieve something of great importance that was taken from you, and you will have an hour to do this." Dumbledore took up the explanation, his gaze unwavering as he looked between the four Champions, though his gaze did linger curiously on Harry for a moment longer than the others before moving on.

"You will follow us out when we leave the tent, at which point you will line up along the shore of the Black Lake. A cannon blast will announce the start of the hour you'll have to reclaim what was lost." Bagman took up the explanation again, the expression on his face once again jovial. "Now, let's get going, we can't leave the audience waiting after all!"

With that said the judges all headed outside, the four Champions following after them, Cedric barging forwards to take the lead, with Harry bringing up the rear.

 **( - )**

 **(A few minutes later)**

Standing along the edge of the Black Lake Harry could hear the cheers of the crowds in the stands around him. There were catcalls, jeers and shouts of support, from all three schools, all of which mingled into a dull roar as all four Champions lined up. Three of them looking prepared for the underwater trial ahead, whilst Harry, who was still in his tournament robes looked less so.

Or rather he did until he pulled them off theatrically and hurled them behind him, revealing that he was in fact just wearing a pair of muggle swimming shorts underneath, and had a wand holster with his Phoenix feather wand in it, strapped to his right forearm. As if he had been about to waltz all the way down to the Black Lake in just a pair of shorts in mid-winter, he had at least some sense of propriety.

Almost immediately wolf whistles and cheers erupted from the crowd, and Harry knew why, his ritually enhanced body was pretty impressive and showed off his highly defined and condensed muscles. Which basically meant he looked pretty damn hot!

Grinning slightly as he heard that cheers and whistles, Harry couldn't help but bask in the attention even if only for a moment, it was not bad for a man who was technically, or rather mentally, in his fifties, it was certainly good for his ego.

It was as Harry was doing this that Ludo Bagman was announcing to the crowd what was expected of the Champions for the task ahead.

"Good luck down there, Fleur, Krum, Cedric." Harry said, nodding to each of them in turn. With him receiving a tight smile from Fleur, a grunt from Krum and scowl from Cedric as he did so.

But unfortunately that was all the interaction they had time for, as moments later Bagman finished his explanation and the cannon sounded off with a loud 'boom'! All three of the other Champions leaping into the water almost immediately, quickly disappearing beneath the steely, grey surface whilst the sound of the cannon still echoed across the lake.

Harry meanwhile took a more leisurely approach though, pulling out his wand with a flourish and casting a warming charm on himself with a flick. After which he weaved his wand through a number of complicated movements, walking into the lake as he did so, the icy, cold water not effecting him that much due to his warming charm.

Almost immediately as he did this, the effects of his spells became obvious, because even as he walked deeper and deeper into the lake, his green eyes suddenly turned a shiny, silvery colour as a second lid formed, and his fingers rapidly began to extend and became webbed, similarly his feet beneath the water did the same, and by the time he was up to his shoulders in the lake he was also sporting a pair of flapping gills on his neck too.

Human transfiguration for Harry was now far easier than it would be for anyone else, and not just because of his innate talent in the subject. No, the main reason was because his body was now much more mutable than an ordinary human body. His previous ritual, and the artificial magical circulatory system he had created for himself, having suffused his every cell with magic, which in turn made it easier for him to permanently manipulate his form at will.

It was for that reason that he had accomplished in but a few seconds what would have taken someone, even of McGonagall's calibre, at least a couple of minutes to do.

Pushing that thought aside for the moment, Harry leapt forward and into the frigid water, his wand then extending behind him as he started to propel himself deep into the lake. With him moving far faster than would usually be possible as he tore through the water like a torpedo, his wand releasing a torrent of boiling hot water behind him as he went.

He continued to do this for several more minutes, delving as deep as he could into the lake and as quickly as he could too, all the way to where he already knew the Mer village was located. The sound of their haunting song only spurring him on as he continued to shoot through the water towards the village, until, with a flick of his wand he cut off the jet of boiling water, which in turn allowed him to come to a graceful stop as he sheathed his wand and drifted forwards.

But only for a moment before he began using his webbed appendages, easily manoeuvring himself through the water as he approached the centre of the village, ignoring the many underwater homes and their inhabitants that he passed.

His silvery eyes instead flicked over to the several dozen Mer people he could see waiting in the centre of the village near to the statue in the centre, one from which he could see the hostages were floating.

Propelling himself through the water, Harry sent the Mer Chieftainess a wary look, the large, burly Merwoman watching him with her cold, yellow eyes as he approached, the deadly sharp trident in her hands held at the ready.

Continuing to eye her cautiously, Harry slipped his wand out of his wrist sheath, and swam over to the hostages. His gaze flickering over them, recognising Fleur's hostage, her sister, he couldn't remember her name. Krum's hostage, which once again was Hermione, it was amusing to see that somethings didn't change. Cedric's hostage, which looked to be some brown haired boy who Harry didn't recognise, probably a Hufflepuff in his year. Then finally Harry's hostage, Cho, her face completely blank as she floated about gently in the water, her long, black hair waving about all around her.

Swimming over to Cho, Harry took a moment to look at her, it was very disconcerting to see her face so blank, so devoid of her usual amusement and mischievousness. In fact to Harry she looked more like a doll than a person at present, beautiful and fragile, but also hollow and empty.

He didn't like it, not one bit.

With that thought in mind, Harry flicked his wand at the rope around her feet slicing through it with a silent cutting curse, after which he looped one arm around her, pressing a kiss to the side of her head as he did so.

From there Harry once again pushed off, not using his wand to propel himself this time as it was not the most controlled form of underwater travel, and considering his cargo, it wasn't something he wanted to try.

Which was why instead he held her to him with one arm and then propelled himself upwards with his webbed feet and one free webbed hand, his enhanced strength making it easy work to propel both of them through the water and towards the surface. Their journey completely uninterrupted as Harry made sure to avoid any terrain in which underwater creatures might be lurking.

Though interestingly he did see Krum shooting past him at one point, his head encased in a bubble head charm, and his lower half fishlike and comparable to that of a glamourized mermaid form portraits, books or Disney.

It was a distinctly different approach to the partial shark transfiguration he had used the first time around, something which surprised Harry for a moment, before he began to suspect Hermione's involvement. The two of them had noticeably been very chummy since the Yule Ball.

Pushing his thoughts on the Durmstrang Champion to one side, Harry continued his journey to the surface, Cho held safely under his arm. With him breaking the surface of the lake a couple of minutes later, his wand already in his free hand as he quickly removed his gills and headed for the shore.

"Harry?" Cho choked out, spitting out some water as she awoke from her enchanted sleep, with her panicking for a few seconds as she did so, before relaxing once she saw Harry and realised her situation.

"Hey Cho, enjoy your nap?" Harry asked, a bright smile on his face as he kicked the two of them towards the shore, ignoring the whooping and cheering of the crowd and the sound of the cannon blast announcing his completion of the task as he did so.

"It was fine, though I am a little wet…" Cho replied absently as she allowed Harry to take her back to dry land.

Harry grinned in response to her words, which in turn made Cho flush red and playful slap him on the shoulder.

"Harry! Don't be so cheeky!" Cho laughed, her smile bright as she looked over to the cheering crowd. "So were you the first?"

"By a mile," Harry replied, the two of them finally making it onto dryland now, with Harry releasing her for a moment as he undid the changes to his eyes, hands and feet. After which he looked up to the clock above, and grinned when he saw that only about thirty four minutes had passed.

Yep, he had smashed it.

"Good, good," Cho nodded, beaming up at him for a moment, before she pounced grabbing him by the back of the head as she dragged him into a deep and passionate kiss. The crowd around them whooping and cheering even louder. Whilst the judges clapped their return, both Maxime and Karkaroff looking slightly bitter, with Madame Pomfrey loitering around behind them, a pair of towels in each hand and a part embarrassed, part impatient look on her face.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So not much too really say about this chapter, or in general. Other than I saw no point in really extending the Second Task that much as honestly, since Harry knew what to do and where the village was, it was a pretty simplistic task. As I hope I showed by how fast he did it. Not instead I was more concerned about character interactions and development in this chapter.**

 **So yeah, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and continue to read, review, favourite and follow me and my stories! Thanks a lot for all the support. If you have any questions and what not please to PM, I'm usually pretty good at replying to those, and quite promptly too.**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll catch you all later.**

 **Greed720.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Hey all, so here is the next chapter of the Renegade, I hope you all enjoy it. Personally I quite like this chapter, it was fun to write and it has a lot of stuff going in on it, and a lot of different things happening. So, yeah, I hope you all enjoy it too and leave a review!**

 **So far the reception to this has been great, I think I have just topped 2k favourites now, so that's cool! I hope you all continue to enjoy the story and leave reviews, they're always fun to read.**

 **Also if you have the time please check out my other HP story Momento Mori, it's a kind of unique twist on the alternate universe story we've all likely read dozens of times before. Or at least I like to think it is!**

 **Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter etc.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _By a mile," Harry replied, the two of them finally making it onto dryland now, with Harry releasing her for a moment as he undid the changes to his eyes, hands and feet. After which he looked up to the clock above, and grinned when he saw that only about thirty four minutes had passed._

 _Yep, he had smashed it._

 _"_ _Good, good," Cho nodded, beaming up at him for a moment, before she pounced grabbing him by the back of the head as she dragged him into a deep and passionate kiss. The crowd around them whooping and cheering even louder. Whilst the judges clapped their return, both Maxime and Karkaroff looking slightly bitter, with Madame Pomfrey loitering around behind them, a pair of towels in each hand and a part embarrassed, part impatient look on her face._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 14**

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime Later, with Harry)**

About an hour or so later found Harry and Cho, both of whom were now completely dry and wearing fresh clothing, waiting beside the side of the Black Lake.

Krum and Hermione, both of whom were wrapped up in fluffy towels, and the still angry looking Cedric and his hostage, both of whom were also wrapped up similarly, were standing on either side of the couple. With there being a noticeable several metres distance between each of the pairs.

Fleur meanwhile, her previously flawless face covered in cuts and bruises was slumped onto the wet muddy ground at the side of the lake, her little sister, Gabrielle, in her arms as she wept and hugged her younger sister. Cradling her to her body as her little sister shook and clutched onto Fleur like a lifeline. Both of them speaking in rapid, shaky French as Fleur tried to explain why she had not been able to rescue Gabrielle, with it being due to the grindylows that dwelled within the depths of the lake.

Fortunately for Fleur the rules of the tournament had been updated, and as such the tasks had all been made much safer than they had in previous tournaments. Which is why upon the end of the hour, the merpeople had swum up to the surface and dropped the small, part Veela girl off, before their leader had then swum over to the edge of the lake to speak with Dumbledore.

That was where Dumbledore currently was now, whilst the four Champions and their respective hostages waited, most of them being looked over by a bad tempered Madam Pomfrey, who spent almost as much time complaining about the tournament as she did checking on her patients.

Crouching at the water's edge, Harry could see that Dumbledore was deep in conversation with the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. Noticeably he was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water. Harry had to admit he was impressed, Dumbledore could speak Mermish. Harry himself had tried his hand at a few magical languages over the years, like Mermish and Gobbledegook, and had found that he unfortunately lacked any real affinity for it.

Finally, after several minutes of talking, Dumbledore straightened up, a slight smile on his face as he then turned to his fellow judges, and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at that, before he looked over to the other Champions. Cedric was still scowling, his horrific burn scars standing out more than ever on his pale white skin. His friend standing awkwardly at his side, as if he were unsure how to approached this angrier and more aggressive Cedric Diggory. A stark contrast to the affable friendly boy he had been, to his friends at least, before the First Task.

Krum meanwhile was off to onside talking to Hermione, his usual glower absent as he instead smiled, both of them muttering away inaudibly to one another. Though Harry did notice when Krum reached over and pulled a 'water beetle' from Hermione's frizzy hair, throwing it away as he did so.

Harry's enhanced sight caught this action, his lips curving up into a slight smile as he saw the beetle take to the air and fly over to where Harry and Cho were stood. His green eyes following it as it flew close to the ground, all but unnoticeable to the sharpest of eyes.

Raising his foot Harry stamped down into the wet ground the moment the beetle came in range, crushing the bug under his feet and mashing it into the filthy mud as he did so.

"Sorry, just have a thing about bugs. You could say they 'bug' me…" Harry grinned, when he saw his actions had attracted the attention of the other Champions. Cedric just glaring at him before pointedly looking away, his friends snorting slightly at the bad pun. Cho meanwhile just rolled her eyes, and dug an elbow in Harry's ribs, though he caught the slight smile on her face. Krum and Hermione meanwhile just gave him a flat look, before they looked away and ignored him.

Harry titled his head to the side curiously as he saw this. Hermione made no attempt to talk to him, in fact she barely even bothered looking at him, and hadn't for weeks now.

A slight smile spread across Harry's lips as he saw this. It appeared the girl had finally gotten the message, which, when added to the fact that she had seemingly broken off her friendship with Ron over the whole Krum situation, and wasn't at all close to Neville at this point, meant the chances of her turning out like she had were quite limited.

That wasn't to say that Harry, or rather Dobby Two, wouldn't still keep an eye on her to make sure. Just in case the she needed to be removed, permanently, with the same being said for Ron and Neville.

The Lady of Light, Titania, had been a terrible, dangerous and manipulative person after all. Her extremist rhetoric, and ideology, both of which had become so popular after the fall of Voldemort, had killed thousands and almost destroyed the wizarding world.

Then again considering what the Light Lords, Oberon and Titania, had sought, then maybe the carnage and damage they caused the wizarding world wasn't a surprise. After all, after they had seized a lot political power when they had been in their very early twenties. With them having done this through making use of the power vacuum after Dumbledore's death as well as governmental purges that took place after Voldemort's death, as well as the wealth and influence House Longbottom, as one of the last of the light orientated great House still in existence had.

Either way they had seized a lot of power, and at a very young age too, after which they, and their growing group of supporters both within the government and outside of it, had started advocating an increase in muggle and magical relations.

This by itself was not a bad thing in principle, and had in fact garnered them a lot of support, especially from the very growing population of mudbloods in wizarding Britain and the European continental mainland. And yes, Harry stood by using the term mudbloods, after all there were Purebloods, Half Bloods, and thus it only made sense, for the sake of continuity, that those born of muggles, or mud-people, should be called mudbloods.

Either way, Harry had personally always thought that the change in ideological extremes was simply society trying to overcorrect after Voldemort's reign of terror, which had only ended in things going from one extreme to another.

After all the Light Lords, soon after they had seized power, had brought about a revolution as they tore down the landed aristocracy in an attempt to share the wealth and magical knowledge that they deemed the nobles had been hoarding. Annoyingly this had included the House Potter and the House Black, both of whom had come under Harry's ownership.

Initially they had tried to do this through legal channels, and propaganda, however when the old families naturally resisted, the Light Lord's had rallied the growing, young population of angry, resentful and disenfranchised mudborns.

They had spurred them on and used the growing discontent among this growing group in society, and their own control over the government to forcibly impose their news edicts.

In the end it was almost reminiscent of the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution as manor houses were invaded and destroyed, and the occupants dragged out onto the street and either arrested, imprisoned, or just killed there and then like animals for resisting.

Entire families and Noble Houses were wiped out, and manors and entire troves of magical artefacts and books were accidently burned in the carnage. Hundreds died in the initial purges, as the old establishment was torn down, their assets seized by the government and distributed 'evenly' amongst the rest of the population. Though noticeably the Light Lord's and their supporters benefited the most.

From there the darker families were all purged, and any traces of the Dark Arts, either in book or artefacts were publically burned on pyres. With the new administration setting out draconian new rules which governed what could and could not be taught in schools, as well as edicts that required that all wizards under the age of eighteen had to attend school and take the new mandatory Muggle Studies classes.

It had actually been during the initial purges that Harry's manor had been attacked, and invaded. After all he had been one of the many Nobles who had resisted the Light Lord's decrees, and regardless of his status as the vanquisher of Voldemort, he had publically stood against the new regime and decried their actions as idiocy and folly of the highest degree.

Harry's expression darkened considerably at that thought, the shouts and screams from that night, all those many, many years ago, echoing in his head. He could almost feel the fire flickering over his skin as his ancestral home was burned, and rage flooded through his body as memories of what had happened that night flitted through his mind.

 _The previously grand entrance hall to the manor was burning._

 _Portraits of the Potter's of old were slowly being consumed by the flames, their occupants screaming and attempting to flee as the enchanted flames spread throughout the centuries old manor._

 _Blood stained the marble staircase that led up from the entrance hall, with white cloaked bodies lying all over the place, crimson stains spreading across the ground and through their clothing._

 _Flashes of light as spell fire flew through the air, more screaming as the few members of the besieged Household were slowly but surely overcome by the dozens of wizards and witches that had now forced their way through the defences._

 _More screaming, and this one hauntingly familiar as a blonde haired woman was cast off of the second floor, blood streaming out of her moth and from a gaping wound in her chest. Her eyes, which had once been so full of life and energy, glazing over, forever unseeing as her broken form landed on the ground with a wet crunch, devoid of life._

 _Then more fury, magic burning through his body at such an intensity that it almost drove him insane. More screaming, more shouting, voices begging for mercy, only to be cut off cruelly and ruthlessly. The wand in his hand burning red hot as he fuelled as much magic through it as he could, his emotions lending him a strength and ruthlessness that he never before knew he possessed._

 _A mind overwhelmed with grief, falling to darkness. A once bright soul, corrupted._

 _The stench of death._

"Harry!" A familiar called out, distracting Harry as he felt a pair of soft, yet firm hands gripping his arm tightly.

Looking to the side he saw Cho's familiar, yet concerned, face looking up at him. Her brow furrowed as she clutched his arm tightly to her chest, her dark eyes locking with his, even as his memories of the distant past faded and his cold eyes softened.

"Cho." Harry muttered.

"Where were you?" Cho whispered. "You looked so cold, and distant."

"Sorry, I was just reminded of some, unpleasant memories." Harry replied, reaching over and taking her hands in his for a moment, giving them a squeeze, before he looped an arm around her and pulled her to him.

Looking back over at Krum and Hermione, Harry noticed that the duo hadn't noticed anything, instead they were still chattering away excitably to one another oblivious to all else, as they just acted like love-struck teens enjoying one another's company.

Harry had to stop himself from clenching his fist at this, his eyes still flinty as he held back his sudden desire to incinerate the girl.

She had done nothing to deserve such a fate, yet. All she had done was be a shitty friend, and Harry had already cut off ties with her because of that. This Hermione was not the same mad, cruel bitch he had slaughtered in his past. Instead she was just a foolish, yet still innocent girl.

Taking another deep breath, Harry tore his gaze away from his erstwhile friend and instead looked down at the still concerned Cho. A small smile on his face as he hugged her to him, before he bent down and stole a kiss. His actions garnering a slight smile from Cho as she held him tighter and rested her head on his shoulder.

Looking over to the judges who were still in a huddle, Harry's gaze rested on them for a moment before it went back to the other Champions, noticing as he did how Fleur and Gabrielle were now wrapped up in towels like the others, and were now getting checked over by the still grumbling Madam Pomfrey.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the Champions, as follows. . . ." Ludo Bagman's magically enhanced voice suddenly boomed out, drawing the attention of all four Champions, and the whispering and muttering crowd as they all quieted down to listen to the scores.

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and thus failed to retrieve her hostage. For her method, and for the efforts she put in, we award her twenty-five points." Bagman continued, his voice echoing across the lake.

Polite applause sounded out from the stands in response to this announcement.

"I deserved zero," said Fleur throatily, shaking her magnificent head as she pulled her little sister closer to her.

Harry didn't say anything to that. She had a point, she had failed the task, which meant she should have been given a zero. Still there was precedent, after all Cedric had failed the First Task and had still been given points. On top of which, this had happened the first time around, and since Harry hadn't put any effort into helping or warning her, it had happened once again.

Not that he felt bad, after all he knew that no harm would come to her sister in this task, and thus any interference from him was unnecessary.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble Head Charm, was the last to return with his hostage, and on top of that returned ten minutes outside of the time limit of an hour." Bagman continued, his tone still jolly.

Harry noticed Cedric scowl as this was announced, his eyes flicking over to Harry, a hateful glint in his eyes. Obviously he too had picked up on the fact he wouldn't be scoring all that well on this task, certainly not enough to make up for his abysmal score in the First Task.

Still despite this, cheers erupted from the Hufflepuffs in the crowd; and the brown haired boy who had been his hostage clapped him on the shoulder and sent him a grin.

"We therefore award him thirty five points." Bagman shouted out.

Harry did some quick calculations in his head as he heard this. This meant that Cedric was still in last place, despite Fleur having failed the task. Which in turn meant that Fleur was in third place.

"Next is Viktor Krum, who used an incomplete form of Transfiguration to great effect and in conjunction with a Bubble Head Charm, and was second to return with his hostage only a minute outside of the one hour time limits. We award him forty one points!" Bagman announced loudly.

In response the Durmstrang students in the crowd let loose a roar of enthusiasm, and began stamping their feet and cheering. With Karkaroff clapping particularly hard, looking very superior as he looked over to Maxime.

Hermione meanwhile sent Krum a glowing look, which in turn made the normally broody Champion, smile.

"Harry Potter meanwhile used Human Transfiguration to great effect," Bagman continued enthusiastically, his boyish grin getting even brighter now as he looked around at the crowds in the stands. "He was the first to reach the Mer village, and the first to return, and the only Champion to return well within the time limit of an hour too. As such we award Mr Potter, fifty points!"

Harry grinned as he heard this, even as the Hogwarts students erupted with cheers, or at least the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws did, the Slytherins meanwhile, as a whole, were noticeably quieter, though surprisingly at least a third of them were clapping and cheering him on, whilst the remaining members of the House were much more reserved in their applause, or just sitting in stony silence. The same could be said for the Hufflepuff students, some of whom did cheer Harry on, though a large proportion didn't.

Obviously Harry was still not unanimously the most popular Hogwarts Champion, despite him having come in first on the first and Second Task, and rather spectacularly so on the First Task. Still this wasn't such a surprise to Harry, House loyalties ran deep, and there were many Slytherins who resented Harry for personal reason.

On top of that, Harry didn't actually care. He was not here to win a popularity contest.

Looking over to the stands, he could see Daphne and her friends all polite clapping him on, a slight smile on the blonde's face as she saw him, one which widened as she made eye contact, even as she gave him a nod and mouth 'well done'.

Harry grinned widely at that, his gaze then falling to Malfoy, who he noted had been surprisingly quiet since the First Task. The ferret like Slytherin, barely even noticing what was going on around as he instead sat in silence, a glum expression on his strangely pallid face as he gazed off into the distance.

"Well done Harry!" Cho cheered, hugging him as she did so and distracting him as he looked down at her, a smile spreading across his face as he wrapped his arms around her lithe form.

"Thanks!" Harry grinned, his smile widening as Cho pulled him into another snog. Much to the enjoyment of the crowd as they cheered even louder, a few of them letting loose wolf whistles at this public display of affection.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June," continued Bagman, speaking loudly over the crowd and mainly to the four Champions now. "The Champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the Champions."

 **( - )**

 **(Sometime Later)**

The outcome of the Second Task seemed to revitalise everyone in Hogwarts, it certainly put everyone in a much better mood than they had previously been after the much anticipated Yule Ball had ended and the new school term had begun.

Yes, things had been quite tense for while during the weeks leading up to the Second Task, not only because the students had had to go back to classes after the holidays, but also because of Professor Moody's sudden and unexplained absence. Which due to the ever active Hogwart's rumour mill, had become widely known by the end of the first week back after Christmas.

Similarly the Ministry Official, Barty Crouch's, absence soon became known after that, which merely caused even more tension.

More so amongst the older generations though, after all those who had lived through Voldemort's first reign of terror knew what the growing number of disappearances of high profile figures could mean. It was how things had started off during Voldemort's rise to power.

Still, after the excitement of the Second Task, and another Hogwart's win, things had lightened up considerable in the school. Call it school pride but everyone, even the majority of the Slytherins and the Hufflepuffs had been swept up in the good feelings and cheer.

That being said, Harry, of course, knew that like most of the changes at the school, this one was most likely to only be temporary as well.

Soon enough the tensions and rivalries between the Houses would rear its head again, and he would once again have to deal with petty children from Slytherin and Hufflepuff trying to deride him.

But still, that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy it whilst he could.

On top of that Rita Skeeter had oddly enough gone missing, something which soon became known after the Second Task, when, as the students riffled through the Prophet the next day, they didn't find any nasty, or juicy article from Rita about the task, or the organisers, or the Champions themselves.

No, instead they found a straight forward article outlining the task, the different Champions methods, and then giving an unbiased and fair review of their approaches and their rankings.

On the next page over from this quite vanilla article, was another article with a picture of Rita, under which it had read 'Rita Skeeter, Missing!' After that the article had gone on to explain that Rita Skeeter had not been seen for a couple of days, not since the morning of the Second Task, and that those who knew her had been unable to get in contact with her since then.

There had been no more information than that though unfortunately, after all the intrepid reporter had only been missing for just over a week.

But still the article, had caused quite a stir, and a number of rumours too. Including one which suggested that the Goblins of Gringrotts were the ones responsible for taking her. The motive being vengeance, after Skeeter had published a rather daring exposé that questioned just what the Goblins did with the wizard's gold, and how they had begun claiming vaults and their contents from deceased wizarding lines. Suffice to say at the time this had caused a lot of outrage, and a mini riot outside of the wizarding bank which in turn had hit the bank's profits, and causing an increase in tensions between Goblins and wizards.

Still Harry personally, wasn't too bothered that Skeeter was 'missing', after all the pestilential woman had been nothing but a pain in the arse. When she was not attacking him and other public figures, she was whipping up people into a frenzy to enrich herself. In fact, she had assisted the Light Lords in stirring up resentment and anger in the masses with her propaganda, throwing away any journalistic integrity for the promise of wealth and exclusive rights to stories.

Yes. Skeeter was more dangerous than most realised.

Either way, the last couple of weeks had been quite peaceful and pleasant for the most part, what with the more antagonistic students keeping their snide comments to themselves, and the papers not printing as many sensational stories about Harry or the tournament.

This in turn, meant that Harry could go about his life without hassle, hanging around with his year mates or his Quidditch team in between lessons.

That or meeting up with Cho in between her revision sessions, with the two of them also sometimes meeting up with Daphne too, who in turn also brought along her friends occasionally. The three of them, Harry, Cho and Daphne, having struck up a quite close friendship over the last couple of weeks.

The only unfortunately thing though, was that due to the inclement February weather they had had to keep indoors.

Still, all things considered things were going well, or they were on the social front at least.

Other things however were not going as well, as thus far Dobby had been unable to find Voldemort, Crouch or Wormtail, all of whom had seemingly disappeared.

He had found traces of them of course, both at the old Crouch House and at the old Riddle House. With the elf having even found the disturbed grave of Tom Riddle Senior in the Little Hangleton graveyard.

But these traces had all been old, and the trail had soon gone cold.

Despite this lack of respect though, Dobby still preserved in his appointed task. With him regularly checking in on Harry when he was down in the Chamber of Secrets. Updating him on what little he found, with Dobby having taken a new approach of late, with him infiltrating known Death Eater's properties to search for clues. Not that he liked doing this though, as he had had to do so under the noses of these different family's House Elves without getting caught.

But still, nothing new had turned up thus far.

It had even gotten to the point that Harry may have to take desperate measures to find his adversary, something he had previously avoided as he didn't not want to be disturbed whilst he was here at Hogwarts.

 **( - )**

At present, both Harry and Cho were currently hanging around the unused classroom that they had pretty much appropriated permanently for their informal lessons.

Sitting on the desk, there was a slight smile on Harry's face as he sat back and watched as Cho traced a simple fire rune in the air, her first two fingers extended, the tips of the fingers glowing as she moved them slowly and carefully through the air like one would a wand. Her every movement leaving behind a softly glowing, blue line.

"Okay, and now finish it." Harry encouraged, eyeing the rune carefully, tracing every line with his eyes as he looked for any mistake. It was much easier to make them when you were drawing them in the air with your magic, than if you carved it into a surface with your wand, or branded it there with your magic. Which meant that it was much easier for things to go wrong, if you made a single, error or mistake in your tracing.

Cho nodded as she heard that, her mouth set, and intense look on her face as she withdrew her hand, leaving the eerie symbol glowing in the air for a moment, before, after a few seconds of concentration she then thrust her hand forward and palm first into the rune.

In response the rune suddenly glowed a bright, burning red colour, before a few moments later a stream of fire exploded forwards from out of the rune, the flames swirling forwards and consuming a desk a half dozen feet or so away.

"I did it!" Cho cheered gleefully, releasing her hold on the spell, allowing the once again glowing blue rune to fade away, as she instead thrust her arms up in celebration.

"Congratulations, that was brilliant." Harry said with a grin, and truly it was. After weeks of practice, and wandless rune drawing, she had finally accomplished her first bit of Spellbinding. And Harry was genuinely impressed that she had managed to pick it up so quickly, sure she had had a good grounding in runes, and had taken to drawing runes with her wand with phenomenal ease. But still, credit where credit was due, she'd done very well!

"Thanks!" Cho said with a glowing smile, flinging her arms around Harry and planting a quick kiss on his lips. "So, what's next?"

"Next is practice. You'll need to practice drawing and activating the simpler runes until it becomes almost second nature, before you move onto the more complex ones. Plus you will also need to get used to the process, and also speed up your timing with it, before you move onto the harder stuff as well." Harry replied honestly, resting his hands on her hips as she leant against the desk, in between his legs.

"Party pooper." Cho grumbled light heartedly, flicking him on the forehead, before planting another kiss on his lips a moment later.

"Cheer up." Harry grinned, pulling back for a moment, before he rootled about in the pocket of his robes. "I have a present for you, to say well done!"

"A present?" Cho asked, cocking an eyebrow and smiling as she did so.

"Yup." Harry nodded, before with a flourish he pulled out what he was searching for, and offered it to Cho.

"A pair of gloves?" Cho queried, taking the soft, oddly leathery, dark green gloves from Harry.

Inspecting them, she quickly noticed that they had been made out of some kind of scaly material, dragonhide if she were not mistaken. Though noticeably, as she turned them about in her hand, she saw that the fingertip for the pointer finger was missing on both gloves. On top of that she could also see small, intricate runes had been inscribed into three remaining fingertips on each glove.

"Yes they are that, but they're also something more." Harry grinned, chuckling as he saw her confusion. "Look at the fingertips and tell me what you see?"

Cho frowned at that, but looked all the same. Tracing the inscribed marks with interest, her eyes lighting up as she recognised the first one. "This one is the fire rune that I just did, and the others, this one is lightning, and this one it the Norse rune for shield. Then on the other hand, there is the Egyptian mark for summoning, cut through with the symbols for banishing and the mind, those three combined is telekinesis right?"

"Yup, the shield rune, fire rune and lightning rune have all be inscribed on the fingertips of one glove, and the telekinesis rune, the wind rune and another shield rune on the other glove." Harry nodded a smirk on his face now as he saw the intense look in Cho's eyes as she tried to work out what the gloves were. Her hands tracing the sturdy, magical, organic, hide, and moving down to the pentacle within a circle that Harry had engraved into the palm.

A few moments later Cho's eyes brightened with comprehension, after which she pulled on the right glove, the material feeling soft, yet sturdy in her hand as she inspected the perfectly fitted glove.

Before a few moments later, she moved away from Harry, and raised her hand, channelling magic to her pointer finger for a moment, after which she drew a single glowing blue line in the air as practice.

After that, she released the magic, and then raised the glove, angling it at the still smoking desk, even as she channelled magic her middle finger, the fire rune on the tip glowing red as she did so, before a few moments later a steady stream of fire exploded outwards and hit the desk. The stream of fire noticeably weaker than the one she had used before, but still dangerous all the same.

Cutting off the stream of fire, Cho then turned to Harry, a bright smile on her face.

"Yup, a handy little experiment of mine. The rune magic you cast from the gloves is not as powerful as it would be if you drew it yourself, but you can use it instantly here. Instant wandless magic, or at least for the runes I put on the fingertips. I also removed the tip of one of the fingers, so you can still draw magic in the air." Harry nodded, a self-satisfied grin on his face as he saw his own invention work. "Be careful in using it though, it's good for short bursts, but not even dragonhide is sturdy enough to last if you keep powering one of the runes for a prolonged period of time."

"These are brilliant!" Cho grinned, throwing herself at Harry again and pulling him into another snog, this time with a bit of tongue thrown in.

A few minutes later they broke apart, both of them breathing slightly deeper than normal.

"I'm glad you like them, I had first thought jewellery, but then I thought maybe something a little bit more unique would be better." Harry shrugged, grinning as he saw the look of joy on her face as she once again started to examine the gloves.

"Well I love them." Cho replied genuinely, her eyes moving up to fix on Harry's.

"I'm glad." Harry nodded, before he paused when Cho once again sidled over to him, and pulled him into another deep and passionate kiss. Pushing him back this time, so he was lying back on the desk, with her hovering over him, straddling his body with her own.

"Oh you're going to get such a treat for this." Cho said huskily, between kisses.

In response, all Harry could do was grin.

 **( - )**

 **(Elsewhere in Hogwarts)**

Sitting behind his desk up in his office, there was an intense look on Albus Dumbledore's face as he read through a scroll of parchment in his hands.

Things across the Old World were worsening, the Werewolf Packs had become even more aggressive, and it was only thanks to the actions of the ICW and the different Ministries that their actions were still hidden from the muggles. There had even been fights in broad daylight in recent days, brawls between the Werewolf Packs and the Vampire Covens.

Similarly the Vampire Covens in Bulgaria, France and Scandinavia were causing more trouble, they were arming themselves for war, and had started cannibalising muggle technology, like those guns, altering them with a mixture of magic and their own innovation, for their own purposes. Which is to say fighting their natural enemies, the werewolves.

Though to be technically accurate, only wizards that were turned into werewolves were called werewolves, as muggles turned werewolves were called instead just called lycans. It was a small thing, but Dumbledore liked to be accurate about these things.

Unfortunately though, this century's old feud had started growing worse, the uneasy truce of the last decade or ending, as the two groups started to clash more and more regularly. With normal humans meanwhile, being regarded as little more than cattle, or collateral, in the supernatural's minds as they fought.

Similarly other darker beings were also on the move, drawn out by the growing bloodshed, and only exacerbating things.

Most recently Dumbledore had even heard word that the giants had started to leave their reserve, with several of the more violent ones descending into nearby towns and villages, and committing wholesale slaughter as they did so.

All in all the Old World, though predominantly mainland Europe, was in chaos.

Things closer to home were no better either though. There might not have been anymore Death Eater attacks, or any overt sign of a rising Dark Lord. But there had been disappearances, Moody for one, and then Crouch, and most recently Rita Skeeter.

Dumbledore had lived through two Dark Lords now, he knew the signs, and at the moment all things were pointing to the rise of a new Dark Lord, that or more likely the return of an old one.

Dumbledore's expression turned grim at that thought. The scroll he had just read contained a message from one of his contacts on the mainland, a Germanic wizard he knew back during the wars against Grindlewald.

With this man being something of a spymaster and an information broker. After all the man had an extensive network of informants across the continent, and was often used as a source of information by both governments and less than legal organisations.

Fortunately, Dumbledore knew him personally, and the two of them had a good, strong friendship.

He trusted this man, which in turn just made it all the more worrying, when he passed on the news that a partially embodied Voldemort had passed through Germany not a week ago. With his former student h apparently travelling in the company of two other wizards, both of whom had been similarly thought long dead, Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Junior.

Just what they were up to, and where they had gone from there, Dumbledore didn't know, nor did his contact.

In fact the only reason his contact knew as much as he did, was because Pettigrew had apparently gotten in contact with one of his informants to buy some information on the sly.

What the information was Dumbledore didn't know, the informant had been murdered. He was only lucky that one of his friend's House Elves had witnessed the murder, and had reported back to his friend just what had happened.

Dumbledore's expression turned grim as he ruminated on this news.

Things were not going well, and steps had to be taken, starting with the young Harry Potter.

Thus far Dumbledore had only watched from afar, and kept a hands off approach in regards to him. Though of late he had become a little concerned after noting the changes in the boy and how he had cut off connections with his old friends. Though he was quite mollified to see that his connection with the rest of his House remained strong, if not stronger, than it had been before.

Still though, it was time for him to have a chat with the boy. With things as they were, and Voldemort not only embodied, even if only in a weak homunculus, but also in the company of those loyal to him, it was only a matter of time before he returned to his full and terrible power.

Yes, he would need to talk to the boy, and forge closer connections to him so that he could steer him in the right direction, and ensure he fulfilled the Prophecy.

Dumbledore's expression became grim at that thought. Yes, he would need to get Harry on board and ready to do what was needed from him, that and he would need to reform the Order of the Phoenix, the sooner the better!

 **( - )**

 **(Later that night, in Hogsmeade)**

On the outskirts of Hogsmeade Village, far away from the main strip, where even now quite late into the night, the pub, Three Broomstick did a bustling trade, sat another pub. One which was smaller, darker and dingier than the brightly lit and cheerful Three Broomsticks.

This was the Hog's Head pub, a small, ramshackle establishment with timeworn, dirty, old fashioned and rickety furniture, and small bar behind which a heavyset man with a long grey beard, and spectacles stood causally cleaning a tankard with a dirty rag.

The place was as disreputable as it looked, in fact everyone in Hogsmeade, and even further afield, knew that it was the place that dodgy people went to do shady business with equally suspect individuals.

At present there were half a dozen people in the pub, including the barman/ owner. Two of them were hags, wrapped up in thick, stained cloaks and drinking smoking goblets of liquid as they quietly conversed.

Another was a weary, dishevelled looking dwarf, with swarthy skin, a food encrusted beard, and dark bags under his eyes, his haggard appearance and heavy build, not standing out at all as he sat by himself and nursed a tumbler of Firewhiskey, his feet noticeably hovering serval inches above the ground.

The final two were a pair of Goblins, short, ugly creatures, with long, spindly fingers, pointed, angular facial features and ears, and vicious, sharp toothed smiles. Neither of these two were drinking though, nor did they fit in with the others, as the pair of them wore smart suits. Not that they seemed to care about this, as they instead muttered quietly to one another in Gobbledygook. Their sharp, cold eyes occasionally surveying the other occupants, as if to make sure none of them were eavesdropping.

The atmosphere it was fair to say, was almost as dismal as the pub looked.

A few moments later though the atmosphere changed to one of tension as the door to the pub swung open and a new person strode in. A fine, hooded cloak covered any distinguishing characteristics that the man had, for his gender was all they could tell about the newcomer, from his broad-shouldered build, above average height and distinctly male gait.

Striding forwards the cloaked man didn't pay any of the other occupants any attention, which likely suited them all fine, as moments later after seeing that he wasn't going to cause any trouble, they looked away and went back to what they were doing before.

"What do you want?" The bartender, a grumpy, irascible old man called Aberforth asked, looking up from what he was doing, his shrewd blue eyes peering out from behind a pair of grubby half-moon spectacles.

"A meeting." The man replied quietly, leaning forwards slightly so only Aberforth could hear him, as opposed to any of the other occupants of the bar.

"A what?" Aberforth asked gruffly, his tone flecked with impatience as he stared into the man's shadowed face, struggling to pick out a single feature, save for the fact that the man was Caucasian.

"I said, a meeting." The man reiterated, shifting forwards a bit now so his hand was resting nonchalantly on the top of the bar, drawing Aberforth's attention as he glanced down and saw a silver ring on the man's finger, one which had been embossed with the symbol of a golden sun.

Aberforth's blue eyes sharpened now, his gaze intense as he stared into the man's shadowed face. "If I were to say to you, that I am a stranger travelling from the East, seeking that which is lost…?'"

"Then I would reply that, 'I am a stranger travelling from the West, it is I whom you seek." The cloaked man replied, his hand sliding back beneath his cloak.

"I will pass on the message, do you have a time and place in mind?" Aberforth asked quietly, his tone not quite as gruff now, though it was far more intense as he pulled out a dusty bottle of butter beer and slid it across the bar.

"Midnight, tomorrow, inside of the Shrieking Shack." The cloaked man replied, fishing in his pocket and dropping a single, silver sickle onto the counter.

Aberforth nodded at that, picking up the sickle as he did so. "For the cause, brother."

"For the cause." The cloaked man nodded, raising the bottle in his hand, before he took a sip.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? Like I said there is a lot of stuff happening, and a lot of things that I have set up in this chapter and previous ones. Including how Harry's presence has disturbed other's plans and thrown things out of whack. I also got an opportunity to go into a bit more on the Light Lords, so I hope you picked up on that and what I was trying to get across about the ideology. I hope it clicked with a few people what I was getting at and the symmetries that can be drawn with real life.**

 **Other than that I hope you all review and continue to support the story. I for one feel reinvigorated to write HP stories after having read the canon material. Though that is mainly because the canon material, characterisations, and three main characters angered me so much, that it inflamed my muse. Like seriously, the last time I had read the canon books was over a decade ago, looking at it now, older, more cynical and less teenage, I have to say, Harry Potter canon wasn't good... The initial ideas, world that was created and premise though are fantastic. And despite several issues, I would also say the first three books are still enjoyable, they at least aren't frustrating to read. It's embarrassing to say but I have admit there are a lot of fanfics on this site that I like a lot more than the canon material.**

 **Still the world is solid, and the fandom that has grown around it is pretty solid. So I hope you continue to read and enjoy.**

 **On another note I do think for the sake of continuity, that it would more sense to say Pureblood, Halfblood, and Mudblood. Calling them muggleborns or first generation just doesn't fit. I think that if this were real life, then the term Mudblood would have been the proper term used, right up until someone took offense and believed it to be derogatory and thus insisted on being called Muggleborn. Which kind of still sounds offensive. Or certain sections of the populace started using the term as an insult, redefining what it meant over time until it became a foul insult. Either way I think the different names for blood types is interesting, even if it is unpleasantly reminiscent of a caste system, or a feudal hierarchy and the like.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading, and I'll catch you later.**

 **Greed720.**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: So here is the next chapter, sorry for the delay, I lost interest in the HP fandom for a while due to reasons, but I am back now with a new update.**

 **It'll be a bit of an odd chapter this one, but I hope you read and enjoy it all the same.**

 **Thanks a lot for reading, and for all the support so far.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

 **( - )**

 **(Last Time)**

 _"_ _I will pass on the message, do you have a time and place in mind?" Aberforth asked quietly, his tone not quite as gruff now, though it was far more intense as he pulled out a dusty bottle of butter beer and slid it across the bar._

 _"_ _Midnight, tomorrow, inside of the Shrieking Shack." The cloaked man replied, fishing in his pocket and dropping a single, silver sickle onto the counter._

 _Aberforth nodded at that, picking up the sickle as he did so. "For the Cause, brother."_

 _"_ _For the Cause." The cloaked man nodded, raising the bottle in his hand, before he took a sip._

 **( - )**

 **Chapter 15**

 **( - )**

The Shrieking Shack, it was an old, dirty house that once upon a time must have been quite grand. Now though it was a rotten and derelict ruin.

Years of abandonment and abuse had ruined the outward appearance and interior of the old mansion. The windows were all boarded up, and its walls were dirty and stained, and everything inside of the house was broken, moth eaten and covered in dust.

Once upon a time, on dark nights, screams and shrieks had issued forth from the house, echoing out across the valley and reaching the nearby village of Hogsmeade.

That had been long ago though, and nowadays the house was silent.

Despite this though, the rumour of the foul tempered ghost and malevolent poltergeists that called the house home still persisted, and the house still retained its status as the most haunted place in Britain. With wizards and witches coming from all over to stare silently at its ugly outer façade, and Hogwart's students headed up the hill to gawp at it the first couple of times they visited Hogsmeade.

It was an oddity really, and many thought a waste.

The house was grand, and a spot of magic, and a couple of weeks of work could see the place restored to its old glory.

Despite this though, the house was still sat on its hill; empty, ugly and neglected.

Walking through the torn up, filth encrusted front room, Harry couldn't help but muse to himself about the how the house was a wasted asset.

Hogwart's owned it, and they could easily fix it up in a trice and rent it out for a healthy income.

Despite that though they just left it to rot.

Of course Harry knew the reason for this. The house, he knew, had originally been bought and setup for one of Hogwart's students, Remus Lupin, a werewolf, to safely transform in over the years.

The shrieks and screams that had sounded out from the house had been the young Remus, consumed by the agony of his transformation; screaming and shouting out his pain. It was also for this reason that the inside of the house was in such a ravaged condition.

Pulling out his wand and flicking it, Harry repaired a nearby cushioned armchair. With another flick he cleaned it, magicking away years of dirt and neglect. One further flick and the long abandoned, once dust covered fireplace exploded to life, fire crackling about merrily in the hearth.

Sitting down in the chair, Harry flicked his wand again, repairing a nearby coffee table and summoning it over to act as his foot rest, even as he sat back and waited patiently for his guests to arrive.

It was nearly midnight, his visitors would be hear soon.

Twirling his wand in his hand, Harry spent the next few minutes, from his seated positon, idly repairing and cleaning as much of the previously dilapidated room as he could. It was not a perfect fix as there were somethings that time had worn away, that magic just couldn't repair.

But still, the place was a damn sight nicer than it had been, and with the fire in the hearth bringing a bit of warmth and light to the room, one could almost say that the place was homely.

"You've been busy," Aberforth's gruff voice sounded out, catching Harry's attention as the old man, Albus Dumbledore's younger brother, approached his black cloaked form, Aberforth wearing a black cloak of his own, with both of them having their hoods up, shrouding their faces in shadow. "Not sure why you bothered really. The place is a shit tip."

"Less so now," Harry replied dryly, sitting up in his seat and putting his wand away, even as he eyed Aberforth's squat, broad form, and the other; tall, thin, black cloaked figure beside Aberforth.

Seriously with all the black cloaks and secrecy, it made it seem like they were all members of a cult.

It was admittedly theatrical and over the top.

Still, the truth of the matter was that they were members of a secret society, an ancient order that had existed in the magical world for centuries.

Sure there were rumours of the organisations existence, in a world of magic it was all but impossible to keep anything truly secret. But still, their existence was unknown to most, and was a myth to the few that had heard of them, those that had not been inducted into the group of course.

That said there were still some, the smallest of minorities that had heard of them, and didn't just think they were a myth or legend, but instead pursued them and the truth of their existence.

It was these few that were recruited into the society, the Coven of the Golden Dawn.

Whipping out his wand, Aberforth, summoned two other repaired chairs over to where Harry was sat. Positioning them on the other side of the table to Harry, with them still partially facing the fire.

Sinking into their seats, the two newcomers raised their hands, the silver, mithril bands with the emblem of a golden sun on them, gleaming in the fire light as they looked expectantly to Harry, watching carefully as he did the same.

Nodding his head, Harry, Aberforth and the newcomer spoke as one.

"Death is only the beginning."

It was one of the phrases that the members of the Coven used to recognise one another.

Though it was not the main way that the members used to distinguish one another. The main way was by using the enchanted rings they all wore. With the rings being more than just gaudy jewellery.

No, each and every one of them had been given a double enchantment.

The first of which was simple, if still powerful. With the first enchantment being one which would kill anyone who put one of the rings on, save for the person who that specific ring had been ritualistically given too. It ensured that a Coven member couldn't just be killed and their ring usurped by a spy.

The other enchantment meanwhile was more complicated.

All of the rings, all one hundred and eight of them, had been forged several centuries ago, and at the time all of them had been linked together. With this being deliberately done so that the bearer of one of the rings, when they were wearing it, would be able to recognise another bearer when they pushed their magic into their own ring.

Currently all three of them man had their hands raised, their rings revealed, and were pushing their specific magic into them.

It was a bit over the top, but then again these kind of theatrics and the overall pageantry came with being a member of an ancient secret organisation.

Lowering his ring hand, Harry used his other hand to pull down his hood, revealing his true, undisguised features, his emerald eyes flashing due to the light from the fire as he looked between the other two cloaked figures, both of whom had done the same as him.

With Aberforth Dumbledore, as grumpy and irascible as ever grumbling under his breath about stupid, over the top bullshit, even as he made himself comfortable in the recently repaired chair, his mane of grey hair and unkempt beard as ragged as ever, even as his blue eyes peered out from behind his grubby spectacles and locked onto Harry's face.

"Harry Potter…" Aberforth muttered, his brow furrowing slightly as he paused in his fidgeting. "This is unexpected."

"Indeed," The other person in the room muttered, pulling down their own hood to reveal a pair of scarlet eyes, pale ghostly white skin and shoulder length black hair.

Harry recognised her in an instant, this was Amelia, one of the three elder vampires from the Eastern Vampire Coven, which was based in Bulgaria.

A cold, cruel, callous beauty, Amelia had been walking this earth for nearly fifteen hundred years, and was as devious and cunning as she was deadly.

Luckily for Harry however she was a loyal member of the Coven of the Golden Dawn, one of the founding members for that matter, and as such was as committed to the Cause as any of them. Far more so than, Harry, himself ever was.

"I know who you are, but I was not aware you were one of the one hundred and eight…" The question in Amelia's voice was obvious, and it was not one that Harry could just avoid or deflect.

Amelia was a vampire, she could feel the blood in his veins and hear his heartbeat, she would know if he lied. On top of that she, like the rest of her accursed kind, had the ability to see a person's memories by drinking their blood. If he tried to lie, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would bite him, and not in the pleasant way.

Vampires might not be able to use magic in the conventional way that other magical beings were able to do, but they were still magical beings none the less, and thus possessed their own unique form of magical abilities.

"I will be, in time." Harry replied easily. It was not pleasant and the main reason he didn't contact this group of dangerous fanatics before, but it was necessary. There were only one hundred and eight members that had passed the trial and then been ritualistically given one of the rings, and as one of the founders, Amelia, knew all of them by both name and face.

It just had to be one of the members of the group's upper echelons that he had to meet, didn't it!

"Hmm, time travel?" Aberforth asked bluntly, not even batting an eye at Harry's words. In a world of magic there were a lot of weird and wonderful things out there. Harry was not the first time travel, or even the fiftieth. "I hope this doesn't mean there is another, smaller, younger version of you running around? Just the thought of the paradoxes and hassles that will create, it gives me a headache just thinking about it!"

"You don't have to worry about a younger version of me running about." Harry replied dryly, Aberforth always was a grumpy old fossil.

"Then not time travel with a time turner then." Aberforth mused, scratching at his scraggly grey beard as he did so. "That's a shame, I had heard they were working on a prototype time turner that could send a person back years, as opposed to just days. I was hoping you'd used that, I kind of wanted to find out more about it."

Harry cocked an eyebrow as he heard this. Such a time turner had indeed been created some thirty odd years from now, and it had been a real pain in the arse. Still though, he didn't realise it was already in development, not that it really mattered. Time turners were limited, and were only so useful, plus they also came with the issue of paradoxes, which if they occurred could and did wipe the user from existence.

"No, he is as young as he appears, on the outside at least." Amelia finally spoke up, her voice high, cold and emotionless. Empty and apathetic, it sent a chill down his spine. "Internally however is a different story."

Here her sharp eyes locked on Harry trailing up and down his cloaked form.

"Just what foul rituals and experimentations have you done to yourself, Harry Potter?" Amelia muttered, her curiousity clearly peaked, and Harry knew exactly why. She could sense the blood in his body and the way it moved through his veins, arteries, blood vessels and organs, as such she could sense that there were some things in his body that was not meant to be there.

"A few." Harry shrugged, he didn't like being questioned like this. But he didn't want to alienate the people in the room. The Coven wasn't a group you wanted as an enemy.

Honestly, it was an irritating situation to be in.

"One to send you back in time?" Amelia pushed, a hint of amusement in her voice as she heard the reluctance in his own.

"That one was a ritual, yup," Harry nodded, sitting back in his seat now, but saying no more.

"What, that's it, you're just going to leave us hanging?! How far have you travelled? Why did you travel back in time? How?" Aberforth suddenly exploded, his voice filled, not with anger, but with fascination.

"With something like time travel, it's best not to say." Harry replied, waving him off with a completely bullshit answer.

Something Aberforth caught onto straight away. "Bullshit!"

"It matters not, he does not need to tell us if he does not want too." Amelia cut in, speaking over Aberforth as he started trying to wheedle more information out of Harry. "As long as it does not get in the way of the Cause, he is entitled to his secrets and plots, just as we all are. We are all independent operatives, each of us working on our own projects and going about our own lives. We are all mere soldiers and have our parts to play in the grand scheme, and as long as he fulfils his role, that is all that matters!"

"I know, but still, the information he has could be useful!" Aberforth pressed.

"It could, but it is up to him to share it." Amelia replied dismissively. "He is not the first time traveller I have met in my life, nor even the hundredth. Already, I alone, know of seven different ways of travelling backwards through time, though three of them are deeply unpleasant, and a further two have just as much chance of killing you as they do working."

"Hn," Aberforth grunted. "Vampires, I sometimes forget how old you can be."

Amelia sent him another amused smile, a smile that was at odds with the pitiless, emotionless look in her crimson eyes, after which she turned back to Harry, her lips curling upwards to reveal her white, oddly normal looking teeth.

Seeing the look in the ancient vampire's eyes, Harry shifted slightly, this woman was far less human than he was. He had met her once or twice before, in his time anyway, and in that time he had seen her rip a man's spine out of his back without batting an eye, decapitate another man with a single swing of her hand and drain a witch of all her blood in moments.

The woman was an absolute sociopath.

Then again that was to be expected, one didn't join the Coven of the Golden Dawn without having issues, and Harry was no exception.

The Coven was, to put it simply, bat shit insane. They were an association of magical beings of all races from Goblins to Vampires to Wizards, all of whom sought to wipe out the mundane race, humanity, and come out of hiding and finally live in the open, and that is what they had been working towards for hundreds of years.

The group believed, and Harry did too to some extent, that the world was reaching a crisis point, and just like how Homo-sapiens replaced the Neanderthal, so too did magicals need to replace the wasteful and overcrowded mundane population. It was basic evolution. Magical beings were just the next step on the evolutionary scale.

Was it twisted?

Yes, definitely.

Would it lead to the deaths of billions if their plans came to fruition?

Almost certainly.

Was it evil?

That was more difficult, the killing of innocence was evil that was true, without a doubt. The genocide of a species? Horrifically evil. Saving the world though? Saving your own beleaguered species at the expense of another species? Ensuring that life was still able to live on this world in a hundred, two hundred, or even a thousand years' time?

It was a complex issue. Was it right to commit horrific evil for the right reason? Or was it wrong to do nothing and allow even more people and species, innocents, to suffer as the world came crashing down around them?

Even now, decades after he had been initiated into the group, which itself had only been a couple of years after he had defeated Voldemort and Daphne had died, he had struggled over the morality of his membership.

Harry was not a particularly moral person by any means, or at least not anymore. He had killed a lot of people, done human experimentation, had lied, cheated, stolen and murdered.

He had played around with soul magic like Voldemort. He had possessed and taken over other people's bodies when his own was destroyed, and when that was not enough he had created homunculus bodies for himself to inhabit.

Harry was not exactly a good person.

At the same time though he had saved a lot of lives over the years, had taken down Dark Wizards and Dark Lords. He had even involved himself in some muggle affairs and saved the lives of muggle's too.

Though of course he had been sanctioned for interfering in Coven business the few times he did interfere in the muggle world. The Coven didn't like it when do-gooders got in the way of their plans to push, twist and manipulate the muggles into wiping themselves out.

Yes, even now he struggled with his previous choices.

But still, the morality over his membership to the Coven was immaterial at the moment. Instead, he was more interested in getting his hands on their spy and information network so he could keep an eye on Voldemort.

"So, you wanted a meeting." Amelia prompted, the smile still on her face as she waited for Harry to speak.

"Yes, I'm just announcing my presence here, and the fact that there is now a one hundred and ninth member." Harry replied after a moment.

One hundred and eight. That was how many members there were. Thirty six of those members were in the inner circle, Harry was not one of these. After which twelve of those members were on the council of twelve. Then finally three of the council of twelve were leaders.

One hundred and eight beings wasn't all the Coven was made up of though. There were thousands of other minions and soldiers that worked for the Coven, or for members of the Coven. It just happened all of those people weren't in the outer circle, inner circle, council of twelve, or one of the leaders.

"Cute," Amelia said dryly. "But what is the true reason?"

The woman didn't mess about, when she wanted an answer, she wanted an answer.

"I need to use the Coven's resources." Harry grudging admitted.

"How typical, people only ever come back to the fold when they want something." Aberforth grumbled.

"We're all inherently self-interested, no matter your species." Harry shrugged, eyeing Dumbledore carefully.

When he had discovered that the vaunted Albus Dumbledore's younger brother was a member of the Coven he had been shocked. But only for a moment until he remembered what had happened to his sister, Ariana, at the hands of muggles. It turns out the hatred ran deep in Aberforth.

But it was not the same kind of hatred that Voldemort and the Death Eaters had. He didn't seek to enslave the muggles and purge their blood from the magical population like the Death Eaters.

No, he just wanted them gone.

Halfbloods, muggleborns, purebloods, they were all magicals in his eyes, and the eyes of the Coven, and thus worthy of ascension. Muggles however, those that were not a part of the magical world, they were not worthy.

Their logic was odd and contradictory at times, but Harry didn't try to dwell on this.

"Hn." Aberforth grunted again.

"So what is it you want?" Amelia pressed again.

"I want to find out where Voldemort is hiding, and the location of his still living followers." Harry said bluntly, looking to Aberforth now as he did so. This was his role within the group, he was one of several of the members that dealt with spying and Intel gathering. The grumpy barkeeper was a gifted spymaster.

"Do you plan to kill him?" Amelia asked idly.

"If he gets in the way of my plans, or pursues me and mine, then yes." Harry nodded.

"Don't bullshit us, Potter, you know as well as we do, probably better considering where you're from, the snake bastard will never, ever, leave you alone!" Aberforth grunted, shaking his head in annoyance at Harry's prevarications.

"Probably," Harry shrugged.

"So is that all you want from us?" Amelia asked her eyes narrowing.

"For now," Harry nodded. "Will you give it to me?"

"Perhaps," Amelia replied carefully. "Voldemort is a useful tool, and a powerful one, a mad dog that can be subtlety pushed in the direction of our enemies. He is one of the Coven's assets, even if he, for all of his vaunted intelligence, doesn't realise it."

"He could be called an asset I suppose, yes, but not one you can control. The moment you show your hand, or push too far, and then he will turn on you and cause a lot of harm. On top of that he preys on magicals. As such the way I see it, he is more of a very dangerous nuisance than anything, one that we should get rid of now, whilst he is weak, than later, when he returns to full power." Harry replied, picking his words very carefully now.

"He makes a point." Aberforth nodded, looking to Amelia now.

"He does," She admitted. "But whether or not we grant him what he seeks, depends on what the others say, and what he offers in return."

"I thought we all worked towards the same Cause? Should there really be a cost?" Harry pressed, he didn't like the idea of owing these people anything.

"For something personal like this, yes." Amelia shot back, her eyes narrowing shrewdly.

"Fine, if that is how you want it." Harry bit out, trying to at least put some good grace into his response. "Then I will offer a favour."

"A favour…?" Amelia replied blandly.

"A favour, one, which can be called in at any time and can be anything, within reason." Harry retorted, choosing his wording carefully. These people were tricky and offering such an open ended thing was annoying, but unfortunately it was just how things were done.

With members as old as Amelia and the other vampires, and as high ranking as some of the Goblins, the Coven did want for money, treasure, or magical knowledge. Material goods meant very little to them, not when they had access to so much already.

No, more valuable were personal favours that could be called upon whenever needed. It was how an organisation of independent individuals all working towards the same, or a similar goal, operated. If you wanted or needed some of the Coven's resources you had to barter favours, or fulfil the objectives or missions given to you by the inner circle or leaders.

"I will run it by the others, and Aberforth will get back to you on our decision." Amelia said after a few moments of thought.

"I appreciate it." Harry nodded, standing up as he did so, both Aberforth and Amelia mirroring his actions.

The meeting was over, what they wanted to discuss had been discussed, there was no other reason for them to stick around and banter, or make small talk.

"Welcome back, Harry Potter." Amelia nodded, pulling up the hood of her dark cloak as she did so, before she then turned and left.

"Potter." Aberforth grunted, before he did the same.

Both of them leaving the room after a couple of moments and vanishing from sight.

"Bloody over theatrical bastards." Harry muttered under his breath, shoving his hands into his pockets as he started heading towards the secret passage that led to Hogwarts.

There was a reason he didn't want to alert the Coven to his presence, and wanted to avoid them. They could be right tricky bastards sometimes.

He just hoped he didn't have to kill them or something when the time came to fulfil the Cause.

 **( - )**

 **AN: So what do you all think? It was just one scene, but there was quite a bit of stuff being discussed in it. Including a weird philosophy, which I personally found interesting, if twisted.**

 **In my mind it was kind of mixing Thano's nihilistic 'destroy half the universe to save the other half philosophy, with Magneto's Darwinistic ideology about survival of the fittest, and how those who are more evolved will go to war with, and end up replacing the less evolved. Then finally some of Dumbledore's Greater Good spiel; would you kill a hundred people to save ten thousand, or would you destroy a country to save the world, or finally, would you wipe out a species to save dozens if not millions of other speices?**

 **Honestly it was kind of weird, but I also found it quite likely that a society like the magicals, those who are born with inhuman, incredibly powerful abilities, would not just see the world in black and white, blood supremacists against everyone else. Wizards in my mind, like the other magical beings, are not just normal humans, they are fundamentally different, or at least in my mind.**

 **That said the different secret groups, and I reckon in a world of magic there would be a lot more than just two, would all have different ideologies, and pursue these ideologies independently, which would mean they would often conflict with other groups.**

 **Again, it makes sense in my head, so I hope it does the same on paper.**

 **Also congrats to those who picked up the Mummy easter eggs/ references, I'm surprised, I didn't think people would notice.**

 **Either way I hope you enjoyed the chapter, shorter than usual though it might be. Hopefully it gets me back to updating and renews my interest in the HP fandom, because I'll admit, HP and Naruto, they tend to get wearying at times.**

 **Other than that I hope you continue to support the story and leave reviews. Thanks a lot for reading and I'll catch you next time.**

 **Greed720.**

 **Ps. Please do check out my other stories if you have the time.**


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